Berlin: Iran's representatives and the world powers working to save the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran held talks on Tuesday in Vienna in their first meeting since the United States announced a bid to restore United Nations sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Heading into the quarterly meeting, Iranian representative Abbas Araghchi said the US move will "definitely be an important discussion" in his talks with delegates from France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China.
President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action unilaterally in 2018, saying that it was a bad deal and needed to be renegotiated.
The deal promises Iran economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, but with the reinstatement of American sanctions, the other nations have been struggling to provide Iran the assistance it seeks.
Complicating the matter, the US announced recently it was triggering a 30-day process to restore virtually all UN sanctions on Iran, invoking a "snapback" mechanism that is part of the JCPOA agreement.
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Washington's argument is that as an original participant it still has that right, even though it left the deal.
Other signatories to the JCPOA agreement have rejected that argument, setting the stage for a potential crisis in the Security Council later this month, with the U.S. claiming to have re-imposed sanctions and most of the rest of the world saying the Trump administration's action is illegal and ignoring it.