Nuclear talks: Disagreements continue between Iran, US

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo greets House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) before speaking to the media with members of the Republican Study Committee about Iran, in Washington, DC. Pic/AFP

A senior US State Department official said that the second round of the talks in Vienna over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal "made some progress", but important disagreements still existed between Washington and Tehran.

The senior official said on Wednesday that the indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna "made some progress" in clarifying respective steps to revive the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reports Xinhua news agency.

Differing views

"But clarification doesn't necessarily mean consensus," said the official. "There still are disagreements and, in some cases, pretty important ones on our respective views about what is required to - what is meant by a return to full compliance."

The official said the US had provided Iran with examples of three categories of sanctions, including "sanctions that we believe we would need to lift in order to come back into compliance, and the sanctions that we believe we would not need to lift".

The third category of sanctions was much more complicated with further assessment needed, according to the official, some of which were deliberately imposed by the previous Trump administration to hinder a successor administration from returning to the deal.

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