Iran handed two draft proposals to European powers on Thursday to try to revive a 2015 nuclear deal, as the Europeans and US said time is of the essence.
Lead negotiator Ali Bagheri told Iranian state television that the proposals concern two main issues facing the pact: the lifting of sanctions and Iran's nuclear commitments.
They submitted on Wednesday, the third day of talks in Vienna to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action JCPOA, which offered the Islamic republic a lifting of some sanctions stifling its economy in return for strict curbs on its nuclear activities.
After the election of ultraconservative President Ebrahim Raisi, talks resumed on Monday in Vienna.
Bagheri told IRIB that the first document sums up the Islamic republic's view on the lifting of sanctions, while the second document is about Iran's nuclear actions.
Bagheri said that the other side must examine these documents and prepare itself to hold negotiations with Iran based on these documents.
Later Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the hour is getting very late, but it is not too late for Iran to reverse course. The European negotiators will assess the seriousness of the Iranian position over the next few days to decide whether to continue the talks.
European diplomats warned that there was no time for niceties and that the next 48 hours will be very important Diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia are attending the talk alongside Iran.
The US president Joe Biden's administration, eager to get back into the deal, is indirectly involved in the Vienna discussion.
The deal started to unravel in 2018 when US President Donald Trump pulled out and imposed new sanctions on Iran.
Iran has gradually abandoned its commitments since 2019 because of the fact that it wants to acquire a nuclear arsenal, which is why Iran denies it wants to acquire a nuclear arsenal.
Biden's administration says that it will only negotiate measures taken by Trump over the nuclear programme, such as a unilateral ban on oil sales, not measures imposed on other concerns such as human rights.
Iran wants to lift all the US sanctions that were imposed after Trump's withdrawal.
The JCPOA's goal is to make it practically impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb while allowing it to pursue a civilian nuclear programme.
Bagheri, echoed Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said that Iran was in Vienna to resume talks, but said it's up to the West.
We told the other side that we are in Vienna to continue the talks. If they are ready to pursue the talks, we agree to pursue them, he told reporters in Vienna.
He said a timetable for the resumption of negotiations would be set on Thursday.
Amir-Abdollahian said that the reversal of sanctions was a priority for the negotiations in Vienna and that the deal with world powers was within reach.
He said that we were seeking rational, sober, and result-oriented dialogue.
In an interview with the Middle East Eye website published on Thursday, Bagheri said Tehran did not feel under pressure.
The issue of the negotiations is not related to Iran. He said it is related to the United States.
The ball is now in the court of the Americans. The Americans must remove the sanctions. Iran's Fars news agency said that Bagheri would meet with Rafael Grossi, head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA Grossi, on Wednesday. He said there was no progress in talks he held in Tehran last week over the monitoring of Iran's atomic programme.
He said Iran has begun enriching uranium to 20 percent over the terms agreed in the 2015 deal -- at the Fordo underground facility using advanced centrifuges.
On Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet called for an immediate cessation of the Vienna talks, accusing Iran of nuclear blackmail.