World powers and Iran were holding extended talks on reviving their nuclear deal on Friday.
According to a European source, they were working from texts discussed five months ago and Iranian officials saying they were sticking to a tough stance from last week.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source appeared to suggest that Iran had agreed to continue talks from where they left off in June.
This would be put to the test in the next couple of days, the source said, but made no mention of Iran’s new proposals. Iranian officials denied it.
The talks resumed on Thursday with the United States and Israel which has been piling rhetorical pressure on Tehran about the possible economic or military consequences if diplomacy fails.
Iran’s top negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, said Tehran was standing firm on the position it laid out last week, when the talks broke off with European and U.S. officials accusing Iran of making new demands and of reneging on compromises worked out earlier this year.
Bagheri said last week that “all the issues that had been drafted during the previous negotiations until June can be negotiated”.
Under the original deal that then-President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, Iran limited its nuclear programme in return for relief from U.S., European Union and U.N. sanctions. The West fears the programme would be used to develop weapons, something Tehran denies.
The indirect U.S.-Iranian talks, in which diplomats from France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China shuttle between them because Tehran refuses direct contact with Washington, aim to get both sides to resume full compliance with the accord.
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