SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The U.S. State Department on Thursday played down expectations for talks on how Washington and Tehran might resume compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Spokesman of U.S. State Department Ned Price said the U.S. envoy was likely to return home as the talks break for the weekend, according to Reuters.
While echoing descriptions of the talks as “constructive,” Price told reporters “we would also, however, hasten to not allow expectations to outpace where we are.”
Diplomats from major powers met separately on Wednesday with Iran and the United States to discuss how to bring both back into compliance with the nuclear deal.
Neither the United States nor Iran expects fast breakthroughs in the talks that began in Vienna on Tuesday, with European and other diplomats acting as intermediaries because Tehran rejects face-to-face talks for now.
The deal’s remaining parties – Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – agreed on Tuesday to form two expert-level groups whose job is to marry lists of sanctions that the United States could lift with nuclear obligations Iran should meet.
Diplomats said the working groups, which are chaired by the European Union and exclude the United States, met on Wednesday and suggested they would know in a matter of weeks whether they might bear fruit before Iran’s June 18 presidential elections.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal, which lifted economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbs to its nuclear program. He reimposed U.S. sanctions, prompting Iran in turn to violate the accord’s atomic limits.
Price said on Wednesday that the United States was prepared to remove sanctions on Iran to resume compliance with the Iran nuclear deal, including those that are inconsistent with the 2015 pact.
“We are prepared to take the steps necessary to return to compliance with the JCPOA, including by lifting sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA,” said Price.
“I am not in a position here to give you chapter and verse on what those might be,” he added.
