TEHRAN
\nEU diplomat Enrique Mora held talks in Tehran in an effort to revive the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian state media reported. The EU\u2019s envoy met officials as signs of a resolution to some of the most difficult issues in the talks were in sight.
\nThe National UAE reported that State media gave few details but said Iran\u2019s leading nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani repeated that Iran believed a deal was within reach if the US was \u201crealistic\u201d in its demands. After the meeting, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian blamed the US for the delay.
\nFormer president Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. Iran gradually breached the agreement with an expansion of its nuclear work. The talks broke off this month as last-minute issues in Vienna coincided with Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and financial sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow. But officials have since spoken in encouraging terms. Russia has appeared to back down from its demand that its trade with Iran be exempted from western sanctions. And for the first time, Iran\u2019s most senior diplomat on Saturday publicly suggested flexibility over Tehran\u2019s demand that Washington stop designating the country\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its powerful paramilitary force, as a foreign terrorist organisation.
\nThe prospect of the designation\u2019s removal had concerned US allies in the region, such as Israel, which fiercely opposed the original nuclear deal. It said that easing sanctions on the IRGC would embolden Iranian-backed militant groups from Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Houthis in Yemen.
\nThe Israeli government hastily arranged a summit of diplomats from Arab countries that have normalised ties with it. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken participated. \u201cWe are both committed, both determined that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon,\u201d Mr Blinken said alongside Yair Lapid, Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister, seeking to reassure his jittery counterparts before the gathering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TEHRAN EU diplomat Enrique Mora held talks in Tehran in an effort to revive the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian state media reported. The EU\u2019s envoy met officials as signs of a resolution to some of the most difficult issues in the talks were in sight. The National UAE reported that State media gave few details […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-251874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n