Parties to Iran nuclear deal make little progress on saving it at Vienna meeting

Parties to Iran’s nuclear deal made little progress on Wednesday towards saving the agreement, but efforts to ease Tehran’s economic pain continued, Reuters reported, citing the delegates. The meeting of senior officials in Vienna, Austria, came more than a month after France, Britain and Germany formally accused Iran of violating its terms.

The EU’s foreign policy chief said this month the powers would indefinitely extend the time limits in that process to avoid having to reimpose sanctions. Delegates said that process, known as the dispute resolution mechanism, was not even discussed at Wednesday’s meeting, though the Europeans did criticize Iran.

“Participants also acknowledged that the re-imposition of US sanctions did not allow Iran to reap the full benefits arising from sanctions-lifting,” said the EU foreign policy service’s Secretary General Helga Schmid, who chaired the meeting.

Iran’s Deputy FM Abbas Araqchi focused on European efforts to set up a vehicle that will allow a small amount of barter trade with Iran, which has yet to see a transaction effected. “We know that the Europeans are trying. We know that there is willingness but the lack of ability is obvious,” he said.