DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Talks to revive Tehran’s tattered nuclear accord with world powers in Vienna ended Monday as the parties closed a final text and key negotiators prepared to consult with their capitals, diplomats said.
After 16 months of torturous on-and-off indirect negotiations to restore the deal, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell suggested there was no more room for negotiation on the draft now on the table.
A final decision on whether the most significant nonproliferation pact in the last quarter century can be restored rests with the Iranian and American governments, he signaled. The 2015 nuclear deal granted Iran sanctions relief in exchange for tight curbs on its atomic program.
“What can be negotiated has been negotiated, and it’s now in a final text,” Borrell wrote on Twitter. “However, behind every technical issue and every paragraph lies a political decision that needs to be taken in the capitals.”
Key challenges to closing the deal remain. European officials over the weekend urged Iran to drop its “unrealistic demands” outside the scope of the original agreement, including over an International Atomic Energy Agency probe into undeclared nuclear material found in the country.