Iran sees some progress on nuclear deal, but not enough

A meeting of the remaining partners in the Iranian nuclear deal produced some progress but not enough to satisfy Tehran's demands, a senior Iranian official said Friday, offering little prospect for now of the country backing away from a move to surpass a uranium stockpile threshold that could doom the agreement.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, said after meeting with senior officials from Britain, Germany, France, China, Russia and the European Union that a complex barter-type system set up to keep trade with Iran afloat is now active.

But he insisted that for the so-called INSTEX system to be useful, "Europeans need to buy oil from Iran, or to consider credit lines for this mechanism."
He said it was "one step forward" compared with previous sessions, "but it is still not enough, and it is still not meeting Iran's expectations."
Iran recently quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium. It previously said it would surpass a 300-kilogram stockpile limit set by the accord by Thursday, but then said it was below the limit Wednesday and there would be no new assessment until "after the weekend."
After Friday's meeting, several EU countries said they are supporting efforts to keep the nuclear deal alive. Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden wrote in a joint statement that "aware of the difficulties to implement the economic part of the agreement, we are working ... to establish channels to facilitate legitimate trade and financial operations with Iran."
She said that Friday's discussions were constructive and added that "full and effective implementation of #IranDeal by all sides remains key."
Araghchi said he will report back to Tehran, which will make further decisions. Of the 300-kilogram limit, he said that "the decision to reduce our commitments has already (been) made in Iran, and we continue on that process unless our expectations are met."
"There's absolutely no time pressure," he added. "I think that in the end, hopefully, it's going to work out. If it does, great. And if doesn't, you'll be hearing about it."
Cornelius Adebahr, an associate fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations think tank in Berlin, said there was a risk of "a big conflict."
"There is so much space for miscalculations, for misperceptions and there is no direct communication between Iran and the U.S.," he said. During the Cold War, he noted, Washington and Moscow had a direct hotline for crises, but now "there is nothing comparable and that makes this all so dangerous."