Price answered some questions during his weekly news conference regarding the latest update on the sanctions removal talks, which resumed on January 3 in Vienna between Iran and the P4+1 group.
“I don’t have a specific update. As you know, this round is ongoing. We’ve spoken to the modest progress that we have seen in recent days,” he said, claiming that the progress needed to be more than modest if the JCPOA is going to be salvaged and to ensure that the nonproliferation benefits that the JCPOA conveys aren’t diminished.
Russia's top negotiator in the Vienna talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, said yesterday that the P4+1 group met with the US to review the proposed drafts.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh in his weekly press briefing said that Iran is seeking a stable and reliable agreement, and no agreement that does not have these two components is on the Iranian negotiating team's agenda.
The new round of sanctions removal talks between the representatives of Iran and the P4+1 group of countries -- Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China -- was resumed on January 3 at the Coburg Hotel in Vienna.
The talks are focused on the removal of all sanctions imposed on Tehran after Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the agreement. The US is not allowed to directly attend the talks due to its pullout in 2018 from the landmark deal with Iran.