US, Iran Close to Nuclear Agreement but Obstacles Remain

JERUSALEM, Israel - The US and Iran are close to an agreement to revive the 2015 nuclear accord, but officials from both countries say the negotiations could fail if several key issues aren’t resolved first.

Negotiators in Vienna have spent months trying to restore the Iranian nuclear deal, which was signed in 2015 to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. The accord, signed between Germany, China, Britain, France, Iran, Russia and the United States, lifted most international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

The deal collapsed in 2018 when former President Donald Trump withdrew from it, arguing that it was weak and poorly negotiated.

Now, diplomats say they are close to reviving the accord.

“We are very close to an agreement,” chief British negotiator Stephanie Al-Qaq said on Twitter late Thursday. “Now we have to take a few final steps.”

State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters on Thursday, “We are close to a possible deal, but a number of difficult issues still remain unsolved.”

“We will not have a deal unless we resolve quickly the remaining issues,” she said, according to the Times of Israel. “If Iran shows seriousness, we can and should reach an understanding of mutual return to full implementation of the [nuclear agreement] within days.”

One of the biggest issues to remain unresolved is Iran’s push for more sanctions relief if the nuclear agreement is restored. Most notably, Iran wants its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) taken off the United States terror list.

While the US has pushed back on Iranian demand about the IRGC, any restoration of the nuclear agreement would almost certainly require Washington to lift sanctions on Iranian terror-related entities, the WSJ reports.

Still, Iranian diplomats aren’t claiming victory yet.

“Nobody can say the deal is done until all the outstanding remaining issues are resolved,” said Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Twitter. “Extra efforts needed.”

While world powers work to restore the deal, the United Nations’ atomic watchdog agency said Thursday it believes Iran has significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in direct violation of the 2015 agreement.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said during its quarterly report that Iran has acquired an estimated 73.1 pounds of uranium enriched up to 60% purity, more than double the amount it had in November.

This brings Iran closer the having enough weapons-grade uranium to produce a nuclear weapon.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett opposes the revival of the deal and warned the outgoing commander of US Central Command, which oversees American military forces in the region, that restoring the accord is a “real danger.”

“We follow the Vienna talks with concern, and the possibility that an agreement will be signed, which will enable Iran within a few years to install centrifuges on a large scale, this possibility is not acceptable to us. Israel will know to defend itself and ensure its security and its future,” he told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday.