An Iranian spokesman
of the Foreign Ministry admitted that talks are underway with the US on
prisoner-swaps, confirming the reports in this regard in certain Middle Eastern
news outlets.
Referring to the
talks on the JCPOA, 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, the same official said over 90%
of progress has been made so far after six rounds of talks, while admitting the
rest being the hardest.
He, however, emphasized
that what the discussions achieved far outweigh what was not achieved, without
losing the optimism of an ultimate success.
The thorny issue has
been Iran’s insistence of having a guarantee from the US that a change in
administration would not be led to yet another policy ‘U’ turn; the US is not
keen on that, though.
The Russian officials,
meanwhile, echoes the same sentiment as do their Iranian counterparts.
Although Iran wants
the deal done on its terms, its oil sector cannot hide the hope of the revival
of the JCPOA: it has been stepping up the production of oil even before the
start of the talks to reviving the nuclear deal under Biden administration;
Iran, meanwhile, exported the first consignment of bitumen, a residue from
petroleum products, from its offshore sites to Oman on Tuesday, something it
plans to carry out every month.
Therefore, there
seems to be a collective goal that all sides aspire to achieve - to reviving
the JCPOA at the earliest opportunity; the ongoing, backdoor discussions may
finally pave the way for the signatories to converge to the desired outcome,
trampling on the mushrooming obstacles.
