Senior diplomats from France, Britain, and Germany said Western powers haven't yet engaged in real negotiations with Iran in talks to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal.
European diplomats warn that unless there is rapid progress, the deal will soon become "meaningless".
"At this moment, we are still unable to engage in real negotiations, so time is running out," the European diplomats added in a joint statement.
"Without rapid progress, and in light of the rapid development of Iran’s nuclear program, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA -the nuclear deal) will soon become meaningless," European diplomats said.
The statement carried an unusually pessimistic assessment of efforts to revive the agreement under which Iran scaled back its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions imposed by the United States of America (USA), the European Union (EU), and the United Nations (UN).
Former US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed harsh US sanctions on Tehran, which prompted Iran to start dismantling its nuclear commitments about a year later.
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdollahian stressed, on Monday, the need for any good agreement resulting from the Vienna talks to include a return to the 2015 nuclear agreement in exchange for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran.
On Sunday, Iran accused European countries of failing to present any constructive proposal or initiative amid efforts to revive the nuclear agreement.
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri, told Press TV that "European countries failed to present any constructive proposal or initiative amid efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement signed with the Islamic Republic."
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