US, Iran expected to begin indirect nuclear talks in Vienna

VIENNA (AP) — Efforts to bring the United States back into the 2015 deal on Iran's nuclear program stepped up a gear Tuesday as Iran and the five world powers still in the accord were meeting in Vienna while the U.S. is due to start indirect talks with Tehran.

Friday's announcement that Washington and Tehran would begin indirect talks through intermediaries was one of the first signs of tangible progress in efforts to return both nations to the terms of the accord, which restricted Iran's nuclear program in return for relief from U.S. and international sanctions.

Then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the accord in 2018, opting for what he called a maximum pressure campaign of stepped-up U.S. sanctions.

Since then, Iran has been steadily violating the restrictions in the deal, like the amount of enriched uranium that it can stockpile and the purity to which it can enrich it. Tehran’s moves have been calculated to pressure the other nations in the deal — Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain — to do more to offset crippling U.S. sanctions reimposed under Trump.

President Joe Biden came into office saying that getting back into the accord and returning Iran’s nuclear program to international restrictions was a priority. But Iran and the United States have disagreed over Iran’s demands that sanctions be lifted first.

Senior foreign ministry officials from the countries still in the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, were holding a European Union-chaired meeting Tuesday in Vienna.

Also due in the Austrian capital is a U.S. delegation headed by the administration's special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley. State Department spokesman Ned Price said talks will be structured around working groups that the Europeans...