Iran talks moving 'slowly but steadily' says Russia's ambassador in Vienna

Negotiators in Austria express hope of a deal as eighth round forges ahead

Russia's envoy in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov said participants to the original nuclear deal should meet regularly without Iran. AFP

Talks in Vienna talks between Iran and other signatories of the original 2015 nuclear accord are progressing steadily. On Wednesday, Iran's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri said he believed talks were moving forward positively.

He said the more seriously each side takes the talks, the sooner, he believes, an agreement could be reached.

Russia's envoy in Vienna also expressed optimism and said talks were moving “slowly but steadily”. Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov posted a picture on social media showing participants meeting with US delegates after earlier meetings with Iran.

He wrote on Twitter: “Regular meetings of JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] participants (without Iran) and the US after 6pm provide a good opportunity to take stock of the latest developments in the course of the Vienna talks.”

The US Iran envoy Rob Malley is said to be in Vienna for the talks. This week, the US has seemingly moved away from threats over a potential plan B should the diplomatic negotiations fail. Earlier in the week, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US was modestly optimistic about the talks.

Mr Ulyanov also took to Twitter to say that deadlines on when talks would end were fluid.

Negotiators had said that the final round of talks could conclude at the end of January or early February . But Mr Ulyanov wrote: “Participation in the Vienna talks is voluntary. Each delegation can set a deadline for itself. But diplomatic work often does not fit into rigid schemes and deadlines.”

Despite the change in tone from earlier rounds of talks in Vienna, Axios reports that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan recently spoke to Israeli officials about the possibility snapback UN sanctions as a deterrent for Iran. Snapback sanctions were part of the original 2015 deal and were put in place to deter Iran from breaching the accord.

Although Iran is presently under a heavy sanctions regime, these are unilateral US sanctions and not UN sanctions or part of the original snapbacks.

Israel has long been against any sort of nuclear deal with Iran and its former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the biggest supporters of Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 deal when he was US president.

Although Israel has been vocal in its opposition in recent weeks, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has signalled that the country would not be wholly opposed to a new deal as long as it was a “good deal”.

Israel is not an original signatory of the nuclear deal nor is it a current participant, but it has pushed for snapback sanctions to be part of the new talks. According to reports, only the United Kingdom, itself an original signatory of the deal, has shown any appetite for the idea.