Iran nuclear deal talks 'constructive': Update

Adds details throughout.

The first day of talks on a rebooted Iran nuclear deal were "constructive" but reaching a deal would take a long time, participants said.

The talks that began today in Vienna are centered on the potential for the US to return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, which would involve lifting US sanctions that have removed Iran's ability to easily export its crude in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program. Both sides have insisted that the other make the first move, and said so today as well — but for the first time they are negotiating details on how to get to the finish line.

The US joined the six remaining participants in the deal represented at the talks — the UK, France, Russia, Germany, China and Iran. The talks are chaired by the EU. The bloc's deputy foreign affairs secretary Enrique Mora said that today's meeting was "constructive", and that there was "unity and ambition for a joint diplomatic process."

Two expert groups were tasked with identifying measures to be taken by both sides on nuclear implementation and sanctions lifting, according to Russia's ambassador to Vienna-based international organisations, Mikhail Ulyanov.

Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi also described the talks as constructive, and said that they would reconvene on 9 April, adding that Iran "is fully prepared to stop its remedial nuclear measures and return to the full implementation of the JCPOA immediately after it verifies the removal of sanctions."

US diplomats broadly backed the optimistic spin on the first day of talks, while warning that it would take a long time to reach a deal.

"It is a welcome step, it is a constructive step, it is a potentially useful step as we seek to determine what it is that the Iranians are prepared to do to return to compliance with the stringent limitations under the 2015 deal, and as a result, what we might need to do to return to compliance ourselves," the State Department said. "The utility of this setting in Vienna is that there can be real-time interaction, albeit indirect, between the US and, in turn, the Iranians with those messages ferried back and forth between — by our allies and partners."

The US is holding out the prospect of full relief of sanctions, including the additional penalties crafted by former president Donald Trump's administration to sabotage a potential return to the JCPOA. "What we recognize is that we will need to provide sanctions relief for sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA," the State Department said.

By Ben Winkley and Haik Gugarats