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JEDDAH: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken led crunch talks with European international ministers on Saturday geared toward charting a method ahead in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

The brand new talks got here amid a three-day assembly of G7 international ministers within the northern English metropolis of Liverpool that’s anticipated to end in a joint name for Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions and grasp the chance of the persevering with negotiations in Vienna.

World powers and Iran resumed these negotiations final week, with the intention of reviving the Joint Complete Plan of Motion — the unique 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of financial sanctions. That deal collapsed in 2018 when the US pulled out, and Iran started enriching uranium past the boundaries imposed by the JCPOA.

A European supply mentioned negotiators had been working from texts mentioned 5 months in the past, whereas Iranian officers mentioned they had been sticking to a tricky stance from final week.

The oblique US-Iranian talks, through which diplomats from France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China shuttle between them as a result of Tehran refuses direct contact with Washington, intention to get either side to renew full compliance with the accord.

“Secretary Blinken had a productive assembly along with his counterparts from Germany, France and the UK in Liverpool. They mentioned the JCPOA talks and our method ahead,” the State Division mentioned on Saturday.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi insisted on Saturday that Tehran needed to revive the deal within the negotiations within the Austrian capital.

“The truth that we offered the textual content of Iran’s proposal to the negotiating events exhibits that we’re critical within the talks, and if the opposite facet can also be critical in regards to the removing of sanctions, we’ll obtain an excellent settlement. We’re positively after an excellent settlement,” Raisi mentioned.

Iran’s high negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, mentioned Tehran was standing agency on the place it laid out final week, when the talks broke off. “Drafts we proposed final week are being mentioned now in conferences with different events,” he mentioned.

European and US officers accused Iran of creating new calls for and of reneging on compromises labored out earlier this yr.

Iran has additionally responded to reviews that US and Israeli protection chiefs had been discussing army workout routines to organize for a worst-case situation to destroy Iran’s nuclear amenities if diplomacy fails and if their nations’ leaders requested it.

“Offering situations for army commanders to check Iranian missiles with actual targets will value the aggressors a heavy worth,” a senior Iranian army official warned.