Iran Gives European Powers Drafts on Sanctions Removal, Nuclear Issues

Iran has provided European powers involved in its 2015 nuclear deal two drafts on sanctions removal and nuclear commitments, Iranian state media reported on Thursday

“Iran‘s chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri, announced at the Vienna talks that… Iran has delivered its proposed text on two issues of lifting oppressive sanctions and nuclear issues,” the official IRNA news agency reported. It did not give further details.

A European diplomat in Vienna confirmed draft documents had been handed over.

The announcement came on the fourth day of indirect talks between Iran and the United States on bringing both fully back into the battered deal. The talks resumed after a five-month break prompted by the election of Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi.

Under the pact, Tehran limited its nuclear program in exchange for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. economic sanctions.

But then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018 and re-imposed harsh U.S. sanctions, prompting Tehran to breach nuclear limits in the pact.