US says 'possible' to revive Iran nuclear deal before vote

Adealto salvage theIrannuclearaccord ispossiblein the coming weeksbeforethe Islamic republic holdselectionsin June, a senior State Department official said Thursday, a daybeforetalks were due to resume in Vienna.

The official also confirmed "there are active discussions, indirect discussions," underway with Tehran to secure the "immediate" release of US citizens being held inIran, but did not say if that was a condition for a US return to the accord.

Indirect negotiations began in early April in Vienna between Washington and Tehran, with the other signatories to the 2015deal-- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union -- acting as intermediaries.

The goal is to find a way back to the accord known by its acronym JCPOA, which former US president Donald Trump walked away from and which his successor Joe Biden wants torevive.

For that to happen, the United States andIranmust agree on the lifting of the sanctions reinstated by Trump and on Tehran's commitment to follow the terms of thedeal.

Once Trump walked away from the 2015 agreement, the Islamic republic started to abandon the constraints on its production ofnuclearmaterial.

The three initial rounds of talks were described as "serious" and "productive" by the US official, who asked not to be named.

Russia has said it wants an agreement concluded in a fortnight,beforethe campaign forIran's June 18 presidentialelectionovershadows the talks. Washington has not ruled out this possibility.

"Is itpossibleto get adealbeforethe Iranianelections? Absolutely," said the State Department official.

"It's doable because this is not rocket science -- it's not inventing a newdeal, it's reviving one that has been undermined," the official said.

The official admitted the main variable in the equation was how muchIran's leadership really wants to achieve an agreement.

"IfIranmakes a political decision that it genuinely wants to return to the JCPOA as the JCPOA was negotiated, then it could be done relatively quickly and implementation could be relatively swift," he said.

"We don't know ifIranhas made that decision," the official said.

That question may be answered in Friday's talks, the official said, noting: "We'll just have to see whether the next round actually moves things forward or whether we still are faced with unrealistic demands byIran."

In parallel with thenucleartalks, Iranian media reported last weekend that there was an agreement between Tehran and Washington for the release of prisoners held by each side.

Despite the detailed reports, both sides now deny such an accord.

"There's nodeal," an US official said, accusingIranof "unspeakable cruelty" for putting out stories that raised the hopes of families of those held.

Nevertheless, the official said, "we want it to be resolved sooner rather than later. . . We want todealwith the detainees immediately."