Some Progress in Nuclear Talks, Interim Deal Possible, Iranian Officials Say
Voice of America
DUBAI - Iran and world powers have made some progress on how to revive the 2015 nuclear accord later abandoned by the United States, and an interim deal could be a way to gain time for a lasting settlement, Iranian officials said on Monday.
Tehran and the world powers have been meeting in Vienna since early April to work on steps that must be taken, touching on U.S. sanctions and Iran's breaches of the deal, to bring back Tehran and Washington into full compliance with the accord. "We are on the right track, and some progress has been made, but this does not mean that the talks in Vienna have reached the final stage," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly news conference in Tehran. "Practical solutions are still far away, but we have moved from general words to agreeing on specific steps towards the goal," Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency (IAEA), tweeted on Monday.
Firefighters extinguish a burning UNIFIL vehicle, set ablaze by protesters, on the road leading to Beirut's international airport on Feb. 14, 2025.
FILE - A USAID flag flutters outside as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued freezing funding, in Washington, Feb. 3, 2025.
FILE - Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan.
A view of a selection of the mummified bodies in the exhibition area of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. (Emma Paolin via AP) Emma Paolin, a researcher at University of Ljubljana, background, and Dr. Cecilia Bembibre, lecturer at University College London, take swab samples for microbiological analysis at the Krakow University of Economics. (Abdelrazek Elnaggar via AP)
FILE - Myanmar's military commander in chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, attends a military exercise at Ayeyarwady delta region in Myanmar, Feb. 3, 2018. FILE - Aung San Suu Kyi, then Myanmar's leader, delivers a speech in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, Jan. 28, 2020.
FILE - Kurdish-led fighters backed by the U.S. escort suspected Islamic State militants in Hasakah, Syria, Jan. 26, 2022.
FILE - A picture taken on September 14, 2017 shows an Airbus A340 of Mahan Air at the tarmac at Dubai's International Airport. FILE - A plane of Lebanon's national carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA), prepares to take off from Beirut International airport on Aug. 5, 2024.
FILE - Philippine Navy personnel watch the Canadian vessel HMCS Montreal during the Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity being held in the West Philippine Sea, Aug. 7, 2024.
Balochistan province, Pakistan
Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te holds a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, Feb. 14, 2025. FILE - The logo of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) is shown during the Taiwan Innotech Expo at the World Trade Center in Taipei, Taiwan, Oct. 14, 2022.
Police officers stand next to a car outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis has gone to continue treatment for ongoing bronchitis in Rome, Feb. 14, 2025.
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip hold photos depicting their faces during a protest demanding their release from Hamas captivity, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025.
FILE - The New Safe Confinement at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant which cover the No. 4 reactor unit, seen May 29, 2022.