France FM: Decision on Iran nuclear deal within days

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday that a decision on salvaging Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal was just days away and that it was now up to Tehran to make the political choice.

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the nuclear deal resumed last week, after a ten-day break.

Officials from Britain, France, Germany and Russia have been shuttling between the two sides in an effort to bridge the gaps.

Western diplomats have previously indicated that they hope for a breakthrough, but difficult issues remain.

“We have now reached a critical point,” Le Drian told parliament.

“It is not a question of weeks, it is a question of days. They [Iran] have a very clear choice, either they unleash a serious crisis in the next days… or they accept an agreement that respects the interests of all the parties,” he added.

He said that Western powers as well as Russia and China agree on the broad outlines of the agreement.

The deal began to unravel in 2018 when then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it and reimposed “unprecedented sanctions” on Iran, which then began violating restrictions on its uranium enrichment activities.

READ: Why have the nuclear negotiations with Iran stalled?