Several days after superpowers said they were close to signing a new Iranian nuclear deal, negotiators announced Thursday the talks would be put on hold due to the Russian incursion in Ukraine.
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A few hours before Russian troops invaded Ukraine early Thursday morning, Iran's top negotiator Ali Bakri Kani took off from Vienna to Tehran for consultations after various sides indicated the new deal is close, although some disagreements remained.
Shortly before takeoff, Kani said, "Being close to the finish line is not a guarantee that it will be crossed. It requires caution, perseverance, and creativity to take the last step. There are certain decisions that our Western interlocutors have to make."
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said Iran had the potential to reach a good agreement following "incredible progress in negotiations," adding that the ball was now in the West's court.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine has pushed the nuclear negotiations off the global stage, forcing Iran to reassess the situation and perhaps even reconsider its position in the negotiations.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told Putin in a telephone call on Thursday that "NATO expansion is a "serious threat to the stability and security of independent countries in different regions,"
Raisi expressed hope that "what was happening" would benefit "the nations and the region," he said, according to a statement.
Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called for peaceful solutions to the crisis.
"The Ukraine crisis is rooted in NATO's provocations. We don't believe that resorting to war is a solution. Imperative to establish a ceasefire and to find a political and democratic resolution," he tweeted.
Amirabdollahian later spoke with his British counterpart Liz Truss, reiterating Iran's insistence on the removal of sanctions as a prerequisite "to reaching a lasting agreement."
His post came after Russia hit military facilities across Ukraine with airstrikes before sending in ground forces.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Iran was working to evacuate its citizens from Ukraine, which closed its airspace early on Thursday.
"We are in contact with both sides and we emphasized that the security of our compatriots is a priority for us," the ministry's spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told state TV.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
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