JEDDAH: Iran’s foreign minister is flying to Moscow on Tuesday in an attempt to rescue a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, amid fears that talks in Vienna may collapse.
Diplomats said last week that a new agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program was virtually complete, but the process was thrown into disarray when Russia suddenly demanded guarantees that its trade with Iran would not be affected by sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine.
Mistrust in Tehran’s motives has also grown since the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired a dozen missiles on Sunday at Irbil, capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region.
And in a further blow to the talks in Vienna, 49 of the 50 Republican US senators said on Monday they would not support a nuclear accord with Iran. They said they would do everything in their power to reverse an agreement that did not “completely block” Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, constrain its ballistic missile program and “confront Iran’s support for terrorism.”
Iran said on Monday that Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s visit to Russia was “a platform for serious, frank and forward-looking talks” between two countries who had shown they could “work very closely, decisively and successfully on complex issues.”
Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said: “We are currently having a breather from the nuclear talks. We are not at a point of announcing an agreement now.”
