Iran nuclear talks continued in the Austrian capital on Tuesday amidst growing tensions between Tehran and world powers.
Sources reported that Iran was indicating a return to talks based on agreements made in June.

Iran offers changes
Yet last week, discussions in the seventh round of talks on Iran's nuclear development were disrupted after Tehran submitted two proposals, which European and US officials said disregarded any previously compromises agreed on in the first six rounds of talks and even added new demands.

The proposals, which Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani said were critical to them returning to the 2015 nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), addressed the lifting of sanctions against Iran by world powers and the nuclear curbs Tehran would be willing to observe.

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Tensions mount

On Thursday, White House Press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that "If diplomacy cannot get on track soon, and if Iran's nuclear program continues to accelerate, then we will have no choice but to take additional measures to further restrict Iran's revenue-producing sectors."

Then on Friday, on the second day of talks, Russia's representative to the JCPOA, Mikhail Ulyanov, tweeted:

"The #ViennaTalks will proceed from drafts elaborated by June 20 ( the end of the sixth round). But the new Iranian ideas must be properly discussed and thoroughly considered. This is an edict in multilateral diplomacy."

However, Kani appeared to have squashed that assessment, saying that "negotiations on Iran's (new) drafts are going on," and that working groups to discuss sanctions Washington might lift and the nuclear program adjustments Tehran might be willing to make will convene on Friday.

Iran's new government wants JCPOA renegotiated

Iran's new proposals are the result of Iran's new hardline government headed by conservative President Ebrahim Raisi that was elected over the summer.

They do not recognize the text drafted in the first six rounds of talks and argue that everything should be renegotiated, including the removal of all post-2018 US sanctions, before Tehran will return to compliance with the 2015 JCPOA.

U.S. back in the talks

Meanwhile, the U.S., who pulled out of the accord in 2018 under the Trump administration, has been indirectly taking with Iran. President Biden still believes in a revival of the nuclear deal and plans to send a delegation to Vienna over the weekend.

Cover image: Leonhard Foeger/ Reuters