Agreement in Vienna requires West's "courageous" political decision: Iran's FM

TEHRAN, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign minister said Thursday that an agreement in the ongoing talks in Vienna on the restoration of a 2015 nuclear deal needs the Western sides to take a "courageous and realistic" political decision to guarantee Tehran's interests.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone conversation with his British counterpart Liz Truss, noting that for a swift and sustainable agreement, the United States and E3 group of France, Britain and Germany have to remove the sanctions on Tehran, according to the Foreign Ministry's website.

In regard to his meetings with European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on the sidelines of the 58th Munich Security Conference (MSC), he said the talks have made good process and the negotiating teams in Vienna are making hard efforts to reach a good agreement.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with the world powers in July 2015. However, former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed Washington's unilateral sanctions on Tehran.

Since April 2021, several rounds of talks have been held in the Austrian capital between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, namely Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, to revive the deal.