VIENNA, 28 December 2021, (TON): Negotiators trying to save the landmark Iran nuclear deal resumed discussions on Monday with the EU chair warning of difficult work ahead.

Negotiations to salvage the 2015 agreement restarted in late November, after a five-month hiatus following the election of ultraconservative Iran President Ebrahim Raisi.

The talks seek to bring back the US, after it left the accord in 2018, and curtail Iran’s nuclear activities, stepped up in response to the US withdrawal and reimposed sanctions.

EU diplomat Enrique Mora, who is chairing the talks, said “all sides were showing a clear will to work toward the successful end of this negotiation.”

The talks’ coordinator, Mora told a news conference “if we work hard in the days and weeks ahead we should have a positive result. It’s going to be very difficult, it’s going to be very hard. Difficult political decisions have to be taken both in Tehran and in Washington.”

He was speaking shortly after a meeting of the remaining parties to the deal; Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union, formally kicked off the round on Monday evening.

Mora said “there is a sense of urgency in all delegations that this negotiation has to be finished in a relatively reasonable period of time. Again, I wouldn’t put limits but we are talking about weeks, not about months.”

He said “the talks will discuss US sanctions-lifting and Iran’s atomic commitments in parallel despite comments by Tehran and Beijing suggesting sanctions would be the focus.”

Mora added “we are working on both tracks in parallel, we are not working on one side and forgetting or neglecting the other. On the contrary, both tracks are mutually reinforcing.”