German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called on Iran not to spoil the ongoing talks aimed at saving the 2015 nuclear agreement.
"The Iranian leadership now has a choice: Now is the moment of truth," Scholz said at the Munich Security Conference on February 19.
Scholz said that after the talks in Vienna over the past 10 months, “all the elements for a conclusion of the negotiations are on the table" now.
However, he warned that it’s “unacceptable” for the world powers if Iran continues to enrich fuel while suspending monitoring by the UN nuclear agency.
"We now have the chance to reach an agreement that will allow the sanctions to be lifted," Scholz said, but warned: "If we don't manage to do this very quickly, the negotiations risk failing."
Germany, France, and Britain, together with Russia and China, have been mediating between Iran and the United States for months.
Iran was targeted by increasingly tough sanctions by the United Nations, as well as the United States and other countries, before the deal with major world powers to curb Tehran's sensitive nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief in 2015.
Then-President Donald trump pulled the United States out of that deal in 2018 and reimposed stringent sanctions that battered Iran's economy and its currency.
Western diplomats said earlier this week that the talks to revive the deal were in the final phase and they believe an agreement is within reach.
Speaking at a panel at the Munich Security Conference, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the West would be to blame if talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal fail as Tehran is ready to reach a good agreement.
"I would like to emphasize here that we are ready to achieve a good deal, at the earliest possible time, if the other side makes the needed political decision," Amir-Abdollahian said on February 19.
He also said that Tehran was ready to swap prisoners with the United States.
"We believe prisoner swaps is a humanitarian issue ... unrelated to the nuclear accord. We can do it immediately."
On February 18, Amir-Abdollahian said "a good and achievable agreement" was attainable while adding that the timing will depend on Western countries.
"It is the Western parties that need to demonstrate their initiative and flexibility; they're the ones who can determine whether the talks in Vienna will have results in the next few days or next few weeks," he said in an interview in Munich with Iran's state controlled television.
On February 17, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Tehran needs nuclear energy, not weapons.
Khamenei, who holds ultimate religious and political authority in Iran, said Tehran "has to think about tomorrow" and that "sooner or later we will urgently need peaceful nuclear energy.”
