BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Negotiations to bring Iran back into compliance with a landmark 2015 nuclear accord are coming to an end, but it is not clear if they will result in an agreement between Tehran and world powers, a senior EU official said on Friday.
In 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions, spurring Tehran to breach nuclear limits in the pact.
“We are very, very advanced in the negotiations. We have had a round of so-called proximity talks in Doha; they produced no results and the reason is very clear because we have negotiated everything that was on the table,” the official said.
“We can be more precise on some details that are still pending, we are waiting for some ideas from Tehran and what the Americans have to say…I don’t know (if it is) the end of the process, but the end of the negotiation, yes.”
France’s foreign minister said this week there were only a few weeks left to revive the deal and it was up to Iran to decide whether to sign what had been negotiated.
The United States says Iran has tacked on demands unrelated to discussions on its nuclear program and had made alarming progress in enriching uranium.
Under the 2015 pact, Iran limited its disputed enrichment programme, a potential pathway to nuclear weapons though Tehran says it seeks only civilian atomic energy, in return for a lifting of international sanctions.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott, editing by Marine Strauss)
