Diplomats said Borrell was referring to Russia’s demand last Saturday to ease US sanctions on its future relationship with Iran as a condition for participating in a revived deal.
The final text of the new agreement is “basically ready and on the table,” Borrell said, adding that he and his team will be in touch with all involved to overcome the remaining hurdles and finalize the agreement.
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But an indefinite pause could also potentially signal a break from which there is no return, ending any hope that the trade could recover.
“Of course it’s serious. If you lose momentum at this late stage, the dynamics will change in such a way that resuming negotiations may become impossible,” said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
The talks in Vienna focused on scheduling the return of the United States and Iran to compliance with the 2015 Joint Coordinated Action Plan, as the nuclear deal is known. Under the new deal, the United States is expected to lift the tough new sanctions imposed since Trump’s departure and require Iran to reverse its nuclear gains so far.
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The deal was so close that a grandstand was erected at the Palais Coburg Hotel, where the negotiations took place, for the closing ceremonies. In recent weeks, Iran has increasingly signaled its willingness to complete the deal, diplomats said.
But the outbreak of war in Ukraine has changed the geopolitical backdrop of the talks, and it is now possible that the fate of the Iran talks will effectively become hostage to the course of the war, diplomats say.
Informal consultations are expected to continue, negotiators say, including exploring ways to complete the deal without Russian involvement, which will be difficult but not impossible. Russia plays a key role in the implementation of the deal as the country responsible for the export and storage of excess stocks of enriched uranium in Iran, for which another destination must be found.
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Iran is also expected to try to quietly pressure Moscow to soften its demands. But Tehran has also made it clear that Iran believes it cannot risk a public split with Russia by turning away from Russian concerns, a senior Western diplomat said.
Diplomats from the UK, France, Germany and China, as well as Iran, the US and Russia, took part in the talks, with the Iranian and US delegations meeting their counterparts in separate hotels as Iran refused to negotiate directly with the Americans.