EU, Russia, Iran take upbeat tone as nuclear talks resume amid skepticism

Talks between world powers and Iran to revive a 2015 nuclear deal have resumed in Vienna after five months.

European Union, Iranian and Russian diplomatssounded upbeat about the talks Monday, despite Tehran taking a tough stance that Westernpowers said would not work.

Diplomats say time is running out to resurrect the pact,which then-U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018,angering Iran and dismayingBritain,France, Germany, Russia and China.

Monday afternoondiplomats from Iran and the five countries known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) met at a hotel in Vienna. The U.S., whom Iran refuses to meet face-to-face, participated indirectly.

Optimistic first day

"I feel extremely positive about what I have seen today,"Enrique Mora, the EU official chairing the talks, said after themeeting. This is theseventh round of talks aimed at reviving a dealunder which Iran limited its disputed uranium enrichment programin return for relief from U.S., EU and UNeconomic sanctions.

Mora told reporters the new Iranian delegation had stuck toits demand that all sanctions be lifted. But he also suggestedTehran had not rejected outright the results of the previous sixrounds of talks held between April and June.

"They have accepted that the work done over the first sixrounds is a good basis to build our work ahead," he said. "Wewill be of course incorporating the new political sensibilitiesof the new Iranian administration."

The meeting in Vienna ended a long hiatus triggered by theelection in June of Ebrahim Raisi, an anti-Western hardliner.

Tehran and Washington

The talks are effectively indirect negotiations between Tehranand Washington, with other officials shuttling between them.

Tehran's negotiating team has set out demands that U.S. andEuropean diplomats consider unrealistic, Western diplomats say.

Iran has adopted an uncompromising position by demanding theremoval of all U.S. and European Union sanctions imposed since2017, including those unrelated to its nuclear program, in averifiable process.

The Islamic Republic's top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani alsosaid the United States and its Western allies should offerguarantees that no new sanctions would be imposed in the future.

"It is a major achievement that all parties in the meetingaccepted Iran's demand that first the situation of illegal andunjust U.S. sanctions ... should be cleared and then (we) discussother issues and decide on those issues," he told reporters.

There was no immediate comment from the big powers onBagheri Kani's remarks about the sequencing of topics.

Tensions affect inspectors

In parallel, Tehran's conflicts with the UNatomicwatchdog, which monitors its nuclear program, have festered.

As Iran has advanced its uranium enrichment, theInternational Atomic Energy Agency says its inspectors have beentreated roughly and refused access to reinstall monitoringcameras at a site it deems essential to reviving the deal.

"If Iran thinks it can use this time to build more leverageand then come back and say they want something better, it simplywon't work," U.S. envoyRobert Malley told BBC Sounds on Saturday. "We and our partners won't go for it."

Since Trump took the United States out of the deal, Iran hasbreached many of its restrictions meant to lengthen the time itwould need to generate enough fissile material for a nuclearbomb.

Iran says it wants to enrich uranium only for civil uses.

Israelwhich opposed the original dealas too limited in scope and duration has said military optionswill be on the table if diplomacy fails.