DUBAI (Reuters) – Talks to salvage Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal are not at a dead end but key outstanding issues require political decisions by the West, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday.

Reporters in Tehran were also informed by Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesperson for Iran. He stated that Iran had already made its decision to stay in the agreement after Washington dropped it in 2018.

Following a 10-day hiatus, direct talks in Vienna between Iran-America resumed last week. After a five month hiatus, delegates have stated that the talks made little progress since November.

Vienna has no end. Khatibzadeh stated that negotiations are continuing as usual and exchanges take place among the delegations.

“What’s happening today in the negotiations is a continuation and key points. He said that our distance from an accord depends on the West’s will.”

“If the United States and Europe respond to Iran today – within the framework of JCPOA — we can announce in Vienna tomorrow that we have reached an agreement,” he said, using the acronym for the official name of the nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehenisve Plan of Action.

Khatibzadeh’s assessment came hours after Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said progress in the talks was becoming “more difficult every moment… while Western parties ‘pretend’ to come up with initiatives to avoid their commitments”.

Khatibzadeh also stated that a prisoner swap agreement with the United States was being discussed in conjunction with nuclear negotiations in Vienna.

But it appears that the U.S. still hasn’t made any decision. Perhaps it is waiting for the results of the talks,” he said.

Iran recently arrested several dual nationals including many Americans. Most of these were on suspicion of espionage. Washington is being accused by Iran of holding Iranian prisoners for violating U.S. sanctions.

Human rights activists claim Iran is trying to take advantage of detentions in order to gain concessions from countries other than Iran. Iran denies the accusation.