By Francois Murphy

VIENNA, Reuters – After a break of 10 days, indirect talks between Iran’s and the United States about salvaging Tehran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers were resumed Tuesday. However, envoys did not give any indications as to how close they are to resolving various thorny questions.

After a five month hiatus, delegates claim that the talks made little progress after they resumed in November following a five month break triggered by Ebrahim Raisi’s election as hardline Iranian president.

While negotiations were accelerated last month, there are still a lot of important issues that remain. Western leaders believe it is not too late for Iran to make its nuclear ambitions obsolete the 2015 deal. The envoys returned to their respective countries 10 days ago, seeking the approval of their political leaders in order to speed things up.

Officials from Iran, Russia, China and France met in different formats Tuesday. It was unclear how much progress they had made due to political decisions.

Enrique Mora was the talks coordinator. He crossed the street between the two luxurious hotels that were hosting the talks on the blustery morning in Vienna. This is the same day the negotiations started 10 months ago. Ali Bagheri Kani arrived at the talks just hours later.

“After a brief break, the 8th round #ViennaTalks has been resumed,” Iran’s Mission to United Nations Vienna stated on Twitter (NYSE :). The picture shows Bagheri Kani and Mora.

Iran was restricted in its nuclear activities by the 2015 agreement. This extended Iran’s time to make enough nuclear material to create a bomb, from two or three months to around a year. The time taken to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb is much shorter than before the agreement was made.

Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.

Donald Trump, then-President of the United States, pulled America out the 2018 deal and re-imposed punishing U.S. Sanctions on Iran’s Economy that had slashed vital oil exports.

Iran responded to many restrictions by pushing beyond the limits and enriching uranium close to weapons grade. It also used advanced centrifuges, helping it to improve its ability to operate those machines.

Iran claims that, since the United States pulled away from the deal it’s up to Washington make the first move. Washington should agree to lift all sanctions and ensure it won’t withdraw. Officials from the West claim they want a compromise where both parties act together.