Hope rises as powers meet to salvage deal

The United States is set to start talks with EU negotiators yesterday in Austria's capital Vienna aimed at salvaging an international agreement on Iran's nuclear programme, which Washington withdrew from in 2018. 

US President Joe Biden has said he is ready to reverse the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump and return to the 2015 agreement, which was supposed to ensure that Iran never developed a military nuclear programme.

But Iran is demanding an end to crippling sanctions imposed by Trump and has refused to meet US negotiators at the latest talks, meaning European players will act as intermediaries.

Ahead of the talks, US special envoy Rob Malley suggested that the United States could be open to lifting sanctions and returning to the 2015 deal, comments Iran government spokesman Ali Rabiei called "promising".

"We find this position realistic and promising. It could be the start of correcting the bad process that had taken diplomacy to a dead end," he told reporters in Tehran yesterday.

Iran confirmed in January it was enriching uranium to 20 percent purity, well beyond the threshold set by the deal.

The European Union will preside over talks between current members of the 2015 pact -- Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia and Britain.