The Iranian foreign minister said Sunday that the talks in Vienna on the restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal are close to an agreement, noting that Tehran has put forward its proposals and now the ball is in the U.S. court.

Making the remarks in a phone conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Iran has submitted its proposals concerning the remaining unresolved issues to the United States through Enrique Mora, the European Union (EU) coordinator for the Iran nuclear talks, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Guterres described the nuclear talks held so far in the Austrian capital of Vienna as important, expressing hope that the sides would reach an agreement as soon as possible.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with the world powers in July 2015. However, former President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in May 2018 and re-imposed Washington's unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the Islamic Republic to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the agreement in retaliation.

Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, namely China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, to revive the deal.

Over the past weeks, reports from Vienna suggested that the negotiators were "close" to an agreement with few key issues remaining which required "political decisions" of the parties.

Among the key sticking points is Tehran's demand to remove from the U.S. terror list the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran's military. Washington recently confirmed sanctions on the Guards would stay.

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(With input from Xinhua, AFP)

(Cover: File photo of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian. /CFP)