EU foreign policy chief hopeful on Iran nuclear deal in 'days'

The Biden administration is eager to restore the deal trashed by former president Donald Trump and says that Iran has backed down on some demands that held up diplomacy for a year and a half.

"I am hoping that in the coming days we are not going to lose this momentum and we can close the deal," top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said after an informal meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Prague.

"It's clear that there is a common ground, that we have an agreement that takes into account, I think, everyone's concerns," he said.

In Washington, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States was also "cautiously optimistic," but declined to put a timeframe.

"We do believe we're closer now than we have been in certain recent weeks and months due in large part to Iran being willing to drop some of their demands that were not related to the deal at all," Kirby told reporters.

The European Union put forward on August 8 what it called a final text to restore the landmark 2015 agreement, under which Iran was promised sanctions relief in return for stringent restrictions on its nuclear work.

Trump withdrew the United States in 2018 and imposed sweeping new sanctions. A return by Biden could put more than one million barrels of Iranian oil back on international markets, bringing new relief at a time that crude prices are receding from recent highs.

Iran responded to the EU proposal with proposed changes to which the United States replied in turn without divulging the details.