VIENNA (Reuters) – France on Tuesday warned that further delays in talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal could jeopardize the chances of reaching an agreement, after Russia announced extra demands that stalled negotiations.
“We are very close to an agreement. It is essential we conclude while we still can,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre told reporters in a daily briefing. “We are concerned by the risks that further delays could weigh on the possibility of concluding.”
Iran’s top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani left the talks unexpectedly on Monday for consultations in Tehran with the talks’ coordinator, Enrique Mora of the European Union, saying the time had come for political decisions to be taken to end the negotiations 11 months after they began.
Diplomats say several differences still need to be overcome in the talks, which were also hit by a last-minute demand from Russia for a guarantee from the United States that Russian trade, investment and military-technical cooperation with Iran would not be hindered by sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
In an apparent reference to Moscow’s demands, Legendre said France, Britain and Germany called on all parties to “adopt a responsible approach to reach an agreement.”
(Reporting by John Irish; editing by Francois Murphy)
