Iran nuclear talks 'about to cross the finish line', Russian envoy says

Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are close to concluding, Russia's top envoy to the negotiations said on Tuesday, the latest of several comments by delegates on the final phase of talks.

"Apparently the negotiations on restoration of #JCPOA are about to cross the finish line," Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter, using the deal's full name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Earlier the talks' coordinator, Enrique Mora, tweeted that "key issues need to be fixed" but the end was near.

Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington have been held in Vienna since April amid fears about Tehran’s nuclear advances, seen by Western powers as irreversible unless agreement is struck soon.

The 2015 deal between Iran and major powers limited Iran’s enrichment of uranium to make it harder for Tehran to develop material for nuclear weapons, in return for a lifting of international sanctions against Tehran.

Iran has violated some of the deal's nuclear limits since the United States withdrew from it and reimposed sanctions under Trump.

(Reuters contributed to this report)