Tehran says talks on 2015 nuclear deal might not resume for 2-3 months

Tehran's foreign ministry says the resumption of nuclear talks with world powers will probably take another two to three months.

The European Union-led talks, which aims to get the US back into the 2015 agreement have been underway since April.

Also read | Before talks, Iran's supreme leader says 'predatory wolf' Biden no different from Trump

Donald Trump, former US president, abandoned the nuclear agreement in 2018 and imposed tough sanctions against Iran. In contrast, to Trump, his successor, Joe Biden, wants to reinstate Washington into the agreement.

The negotiations were previously paused on June 20, two days after ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi won Iran's presidential election, with no date set for a resumption of dialogue.

On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian appealed to his Iranian counterpart for "immediate resumption" of the Iran nuclear talks.

Also read | ​​​​​​​Iran's hardline new president sworn in amid stalled nuclear talks

A French foreign ministry spokesman said that the minister stressed the importance and urgency of immediately getting back to negotiations, which have been suspended by Iran since June. 

"We are not seeking to flee the negotiation table and the... government considers a real negotiation is a negotiation that produces palpable results allowing the rights of the Iranian nation to be guaranteed," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said during an interview broadcast on Tuesday evening by state television.

He said that the Vienna talks are "one of the questions on the foreign policy and government agenda".

Adding that "the other party knows full well that a process of two to three months is required for the new government to establish itself and to start taking decisions."

Also read | ​​​​​​​Iran's Raisi set to focus on economy and nuclear deal

Raisi succeeded Hassan Rouhani, the principal architect of the 2015 agreement on Iran's side, as president in early August. After receiving parliamentary approval, his government was sworn in on August 26.

Under the 2015 deal, Iran was offered an easing of sanctions as compensation for UN-monitored restrictions on its nuclear programme.

However, after the re-imposition of sweeping sanctions following Trump's withdrawal from the deal three years ago, Iran in retaliation, effectively abandoned most of its commitments.

The Vienna talks include Iran along with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, the other five remaining parties to the CPTPP deal.

While the United States takes part in the talks, it does not have direct contact with Iran.

(With inputs from agencies)