EU: Only 'weeks left' for U.S. and Iran to reach nuclear deal

The EU's chief negotiator at the stalled talks with Iran to restore the 2015 nuclear deal said on Friday that time was running out.

"We don't have months, we rather have weeks to have an agreement," Enrique Mora said at the end of the latest round of negotiations in Vienna.

Mora coordinates the indirect talks between Iran and the United States, with Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China taking part.

All of the countries were parties to the landmark accord, which Washington abandoned in 2018 when Donald Trump was president. He called it "the worst deal ever."

The deal lifted sweeping economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear activity. US sanctions were reimposed after Trump withdrew and Iran began to steadily violate its terms.

Negotiations to revive it under President Joe Biden have been underway in fits and starts since April, with little public progress to show.

According to European negotiators, there has been "some technical progress" in the talks in the past few days.

Contrary to the 2015 pact, Iran is currently producing uranium that is almost weapons-grade and researching nuclear technologies that have both peaceful and military uses.

According to European diplomats, the tattered deal to prevent Iranian nuclear weapons could therefore become totally worthless in just a few weeks.

Talks were resumed at the end of November after a long break.

New Iranian negotiators for President Ebrahim Raisi, who has been in office since August, came to Vienna and called for the sanctions to fall before they would take any nuclear steps. The other countries want simultaneous or phased steps from Washington and Tehran.