Tehran:

Talks between Tehran and world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal are getting closer to a “good deal”, but soon to come to one in the hands of other parties, Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday.

“The initiatives of the Iranian side and the negotiations that have taken place have put us on the right track,” said Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

“We are close to a good deal, but to achieve this good deal in the short term, it must be pursued by the other party,” he told the official IRNA news agency.

Negotiations to restore the nuclear deal resumed in late November after being suspended in June as Iran elected a new ultra-conservative government.

The deal offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear program.

But then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States in 2018 and derailed the deal, prompting Tehran to start reneging on its commitments.

Amir-Abdollahian said the Islamic Republic was not seeking to “drag out” the negotiations.

It is “important for us to defend the rights and interests of our country,” he said.

Unlike the other parties to the agreement – Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China – the United States participated in the talks only indirectly.

Tehran said earlier this week that it detected a new “realism” on the part of world powers before negotiations continued in Vienna.

Amir-Abdollahian appeared to echo those comments on Sunday, saying that “France played the role of a bad cop yesterday, but today she is behaving reasonably.”

“Yesterday, the American side had unacceptable demands, but today we believe that it has adapted to the realities” of the situation, he added.

“At the end of the day, a good deal is a deal that satisfies all parties.”

Parties to the 2015 deal saw it as the best way to stop the Islamic Republic from building a nuclear bomb – a goal Tehran has consistently denied.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday that the negotiations were advancing on a “rather positive path” but underlined the urgency of concluding them quickly.

(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)