"Indirect Talks" with Iran to resume in Vienna next week, a senior State Department Official says

A senior State Department official said that the US will resume talks with Iran in Vienna next week. Addressing the reporters, he also noted about the talks held this week through the European Union.

The official said, "The parties will reconvene next week in Vienna sometime mid-week. We expect that the US team will be back and it will be continuing this process of clarifying what steps both sides need to take to come back into compliance."

"We know how strong the opposition will be -- some people who were opposed to the JCPOA back in 2015 and '16 and who were in favor of the withdrawal and who now are against any efforts to come back in," the official added.

JCOPA is the acronym for the deal and formally stands as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

"Our hope is that we'll see from Iran a greater indication of what they're prepared to do and greater indication that they will take a constructive attitude in getting there," the official said

He said these talks are just preliminary steps.

At this week's indirect talks, the official said the delegations from the US and Iran did not interact directly but exchanged views through officials from the global powers still party to the deal.

Their discussions were focused on defining "a common set of steps" that Iran and the United States could take, and "if and when" they get closer to a common understanding on those steps, they will likely discuss sequencing.

"I think that coming out of this week, this met expectations, but with that question mark that I think still hangs over the proceedings," the official said.

"The atmosphere, as far as we can tell because everything was relayed back to us from the discussions that other delegations had with Iran, that it was businesslike and that they took the matter seriously. We read that as a sign that perhaps they mean what they say when they claim that they want to find a way back to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action if the US is back in compliance with, that they want to come back into compliance with the JCPOA if the US is," the official said.