Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Saturday on the United States to take a more active approach to help resume stalled talks aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal.

"It seems evident they should be more active" in "resolving all issues related" to the accord, Lavrov told reporters at the United Nations in New York.

Lavrov added that he hoped negotiations in Vienna among Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany would resume "as soon as possible."

The talks, brokered by the Europeans, seek the return of the United States to the 2015 agreement trashed by former president Donald Trump — as well as Iran's return to full compliance.

Trump pulled America out in 2018, reinstating sanctions on Iran that Washington had lifted as part of the agreement.

Since then, Tehran has also retreated from many of its commitments.

Lavrov said Iran no longer meets elements of the agreement "simply because the United States has left it."

He added that sanctions reimposed on Iran also affected countries who "trade legally" with Tehran.

"These sanctions should be lifted as part of the restoration of the nuclear deal," he said, adding that Iran's "should not suffer from unilateral US measures."

Trump's successor Joe Biden has indicated he wants to return to the deal, but his administration has expressed impatience at the stalled talks.

Discussions between Iran and the remaining five parties aimed at reviving the deal began in Vienna in April but have been suspended since June, when ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was elected president.

Hopes of reviving the deal were kept alive earlier this month when Iran agreed to a new compromise with the UN nuclear agency on the monitoring of its nuclear facilities.

Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said Friday the talks would resume "very soon," but the United States said Tehran had not been specific about the timeframe.

Iran still committed to nuclear talks: minister
Tehran (AFP) Sept 24, 2021 –

Iran does not want to abandon talks aimed at reviving a nuclear deal with major powers, its foreign minister said Friday, after Western powers expressed frustration over the slow pace.

"We are not seeking to quit the negotiating table," Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told the official IRNA news agency.

"We will certainly pursue a negotiation that serves the rights and interests of our nation."

A senior US official this week made clear Washington's frustration with Tehran over the absence of any "positive indication" it is prepared to return to the talks to "close down the remaining issues".

European governments said they heard nothing concrete from Amir-Abdollahian during their meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Speaking to IRNA from New York, the Iranian foreign minister said: "We are looking at avenues on the question of a return to negotiations, and, God willing, we will return to the negotiating table at the first opportunity."

Concluded in 2015, the nuclear deal offered Tehran relief from Western and UN sanctions in exchange for Tehran's commitment to never acquire nuclear weapons and to drastically reduce its nuclear activities, under the strict control of the UN.

But then US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the deal in 2018 and ramped up sanctions, provoking Iran into suspending most of its nuclear commitments.

Talks between Iran and the remaining five parties aimed at reviving the deal began in Vienna in April but have been suspended since June, when ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was elected president.

The US — under Trump's successor President Joe Biden — has participated indirectly in those talks, which seek to bring Washington back inside the agreement and lift the sanctions on Iran.

Hopes of reviving the deal were kept alive earlier this month when Iran agreed to a new compromise with the UN nuclear agency on the monitoring of its nuclear facilities.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the move would provide "time" for "diplomacy".

UN nuclear watchdog denied 'indispensable' Iran access: IAEA
Vienna (AFP) Sept 26, 2021 – The UN nuclear watchdog said on Sunday it had been denied "indispensable" access to a centrifuge component manufacturing workshop in Iran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was denied access to the TESA Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop contrary to its September 12 agreement with Iran, the agency said in a statement.

"The Director General reiterates that all of the agency's activities referred to in the joint statement for all identified agency equipment and Iranian facilities and locations are indispensable in order to maintain continuity of knowledge," it said.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in his latest report on Iran informed member states that the Islamic republic had granted all other access from September 20-22.

Agency inspectors had been allowed to service monitoring and surveillance equipment and to replace storage media at "all necessary locations" except the TESA Karaj workshop, the statement said.

The IAEA's latest report comes amid stalled negotiations to revive a 2015 landmark agreement scaling back Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

That deal started to fall apart in 2018 when the US withdrew from it and reinstated sanctions. Iran in turn again started to ramp up its nuclear activities.

Iran's foreign minister said Friday that the talks to revive the deal would resume "very soon" but the United States responded by saying it wasn't sure what timeframe Tehran had in mind.

The aim of the talks is to bring the US back into the deal and Iran to scale back again its nuclear activities and allow full IAEA access.

Fire at Iran Guards building injures three
Tehran (AFP) Sept 26, 2021 –

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a fire broke out on Sunday in one of their research facilities injuring three employees.

"The fire broke out in the afternoon in one of the Guards' research centres west of Tehran, injuring three members of staff," a statement on the forces Sepahnews website said.

The injured were taken to hospital, the statement said, adding that the blaze was put out by firefighters who work at the centre.

It did not say, however, what caused the blaze.

The Guards are the ideological arm of Iran's military.