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Representatives from Europe, China, Russia meet Iran officials in Vienna to salvage nuclear deal

  • Iran surpassed the uranium stockpile and enrichment limits set out in the deal signed in 2015
  • It says it will reserve the move if parties to the agreement can offer enough incentives to offset the sanctions reinstated by Trump after the US pulled out of the accord

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The EU’s political director Helga Schmid and Iran’s deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Vienna, Austria. Photo: AP
Associated Press
Representatives from Europe, China and Russia – nations that are still committed to the Iran nuclear deal – were meeting on Sunday with Iran’s representative in Vienna to discuss how to salvage the unravelling accord.
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The diplomats are examining issues linked to the implementation of the nuclear accord after Iran surpassed the uranium stockpile and enrichment limits set out in the 2015 deal.

Iran said the moves can be reversed if other parties to the agreement – Germany, France, Britain, China, Russia and the European Union – come up with enough economic incentives to offset the US sanctions that President Donald Trump reinstated after pulling his country from the nuclear accord.

Experts warn that higher enrichment level and a growing uranium stockpile narrow the one-year window that Iran would need to have enough material to make an atomic bomb, something Iran denies it wants, but that the deal prevented.

Last week, French authorities meeting with an Iranian envoy stressed the need for Tehran to quickly respect the nuclear accord it has breached and “make the needed gestures” to de-escalate mounting tensions in the Persian Gulf region.

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Hours before Sunday’s meeting, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in Vienna that, “in the last month, there have been a lot of developments regarding the (deal) that made it necessary to have another round of the Joint Commission meeting urgently”, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.

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