Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says a breakthrough in talks in Vienna to revive a nuclear deal before he leaves office in August requires a “will” that is not up to him.
Rouhani is Iran’s main architect of the 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, which was torpedoed by former US president Donald Trump in 2018. But the final decision regarding the ongoing Vienna negotiations rests with the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“Our main issues with the United States in these negotiations have been resolved, and there are only a few minor issues left, on which we will negotiate and produce results,” Rouhani says at a televised cabinet meeting.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Dec. 9, 2020 (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
“If there is the will that this be done in the current administration, then this administration has finished the work,” he adds.
EU negotiator Enrique Mora, who is chairing the talks in Vienna, told journalists earlier he hopes that it will be the last round of negotiations.
“But we are going to keep working and I am sure that at the next round next week we will finally have an agreement,” he added.
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