World
April 18, 2021
VIENNA: Talks on Iran’s nuclear programme aimed at salvaging a 2015 deal made "progress" on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it had started producing uranium at 60 percent purity. The Islamic republic had warned it would sharply ramp up its enrichment of uranium earlier this week, after an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility that it blamed on arch-foe Israel.
That cast a shadow over the talks in Vienna aimed at rescuing a nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers that former US president Donald Trump abandoned almost three years ago.
European Union envoy Enrique Mora said on Saturday that "progress has been made in a far from easy task. We need now more detailed work". Russian ambassador to Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov added that "participants took note with satisfaction of the progress made so far and expressed determination to continue negotiations with a view to complete the process successfully as soon as possible."