Iran offers upbeat assessment of progress in nuclear talks

BERLIN (AP) — A senior Iranian official has offered a cautiously upbeat assessment of progress in talks aimed at bringing the United States back into world powers’ 2015 deal with Tehran on its nuclear program. The deputy foreign minister said Saturday that a “new understanding” appears to be taking shape. Iran has been negotiating with the five powers that remain in the agreement — France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China — in Vienna over the past two weeks. An American delegation also has been in Vienna, but not talking directly to Iran. The accord restricted Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from U.S. and international sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the accord.