WASHINGTON, 07 May, 2021 (TON): The US State Department senior official said on Thursday that the United States and Iran could achieve a mutual return to compliance with the Iran nuclear deal in the coming weeks if Tehran makes a "political decision." 

In a phone briefing the senior official said that the last three rounds of indirect talks between the United States and Iran in Vienna "helped crystallize the choices," but noting "nothing has been agreed" on how to revive the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). 

"If Iran makes the political decision that it genuinely wants to return to the JCPOA as the JCPOA was negotiated, then it could be done relatively quickly and implementation could be relatively swift," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "But we don't know if Iran has made that decision." 

"There's still a lot of work to do in terms of agreeing on the sanctions, nuclear steps, but also the sequencing and the timetable for implementation of the steps that both sides are going to need to take," he added. 

The official suggested that it is possible for Washington and Tehran to achieve a mutual return to compliance in the next few weeks, while stressing "this is ultimately a matter of a political decision that needs to be made in Iran." 

Abbas Araqchi, Iran's senior negotiator in Vienna talks, said last week that negotiating parties have reached "common ground in many cases," but there are still differences. 

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the United States knows that it has to return to law and assume its obligations pertaining to the nuclear deal. 

Reviving the deal has proved complicated, however, with both sides insisting the other make the first move. Iran has said it will not return to compliance with the deal until the US lifts sanctions, while the Biden administration has maintained there will be no sanctions relief until Tehran shows it's adhering to the pact.  

Iranian and US officials traveled to Vienna in early April to participate in indirect talks on restoring the deal, communicating through European intermediaries. Vienna meeting signals new push to revive Iran nuclear deal.