Borrell: Most countries agree with BT draft on nuclear agreement

European Union top diplomat Josep Borrell said that most countries that are part of discussions with Iran on the revival of the 2015 nuclear agreement agree with the bloc's latest proposal, while all sides are awaiting Washington's response, as Tehran gave its opinion on the final draft.

The majority of them [the countries] agree, but I still don't have the answer from the United States of America, which I understand they have to discuss, and we expect this week to get a” response, Borrell said on August 23rd during an interview for Spanish national broadcaster TVE.

The EU said on August 9th that the 25-page draft has been handed over to capitals involved in the process and that the text is final.

The United States of America has denied Iranian Iran's charges of “x1> negotiations aimed at re-animating the nuclear agreement, saying Washington is working as quickly as possible to return adequate responses to Tehran's comments on the final framework of the agreement presented by the European Union.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said on August 22nd that the US was encouraged by Iran, which appears to have given up some of the requirements, as it is, for the removal of the terrorism definition for Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), but added that there are still unresolved issues that need to be resolved.

Price spoke several hours after Iran claimed Washington was exhuming “unequivocal negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement and that exchange of prisoners with the United States is not linked to nuclear talks.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Canaan has said at a news conference on August 22nd in Tehran that very few issues remain to be discussed, but all are very important. He has said Iran needs stable agreements that would preserve legitimate rights.

America's “are dragging the process and the European side is not acting... America and Europe need more deals than Iran”, he has said.

Iran has signed its nuclear agreement with the United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China in 2015.

The deal envisions Iran limiting nuclear activity in exchange for lifting international sanctions.

In 2018, Washington has withdrawn from the deal and restored sanctions on Tehran.

Since then, Iran has begun to evade agreement and increase uranium enrichment.

Negotiators from Iran, Russia and the European Union, as well as the United States, indirectly have resumed talks on the agreement with Tehran on August 4th in Vienna, after months of blockades in negotiations. / REL