Vienna - Senior diplomats from five major powers are meeting
their Iranian counterparts in Vienna on Friday in an attempt to stop
Tehran from abandoning their joint nuclear deal.
The United States walked away from the 2015 pact last year and
revived sanctions that target the Islamic Republic's oil exports.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran came to a head in recent days,
when President Donald Trump came close to ordering an airstrike in
retaliation against Iran's downing of a US drone.
Iran said in May that it would gradually exit the 2015 deal, by
breaking certain limits on uranium enrichment this week and in early
July that were designed to prevent the development of a nuclear
warhead.
However, an Iranian official said on the eve of the Vienna meeting
that the first of the two limits, which regulates how much uranium
can be stocked, has not yet been surpassed.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said that "there is
always a last-minute chance" for diplomacy.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqhchi told Iranian reporters
in Vienna on Thursday that Britain, Germany and France should present
concrete plans to mitigate US sanctions.
"Otherwise we will definitely reduce our commitments under the
nuclear deal," he warned.
On Friday, European powers are expected to promote their so-called
Instex scheme, a planned barter system for European-Iranian trade
that is meant to avoid US sanctions.
However, Instex is unlikely to revive Iran's oil exports as companies
with business in the US fear that any contracts with Iran would make
them a target of Washington's punitive measures.