TEHRAN — Talks to revive the Iran nuclear
deal will resume within days after being stalled for months, the
EU’s top
diplomat Josep Borrell said Saturday during a surprise visit to Tehran.
اضافة اعلان
The negotiations began in April last year but hit a
snag in March amid differences between Tehran and Washington, notably over a
demand by Iran that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be removed from a US
terror list.
“We will resume the talks on the
JCPOA in the coming
days. ... I mean quickly, immediately,” Borrell told a news conference in the
Iranian capital, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The landmark nuclear deal has been hanging by a
thread since 2018, when then US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew
from the accord and began imposing harsh economic sanctions on America’s arch
enemy.
The administration of incumbent US President Joe
Biden has sought to return to the agreement, saying it would be the best path
with the Islamic republic.
“We agreed today that this visit will be followed by
the resumption of negotiations also between Iran and the US facilitated by my
team to try to solve the last outstanding issues,” said Borrell.
The EU foreign policy chief was speaking after a
two-hour meeting with Iran’s Foreign Minister
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, on the
second day of a previously unannounced visit to Tehran.
Amir-Abdollahian confirmed the resumption of the
negotiations.
“We will try to solve the problems and differences
through the talks that will resume soon,” Amir-Abdollahian said, adding the key
for Tehran was “the full economic benefit of Iran from the agreement concluded
in 2015”.
“We hope that specifically the US side, this time
around, realistically and fairly makes responsible and committed efforts in the
negotiations and on the path to reach the final point of the agreement,” he
added.
‘Meaningful diplomacy’
On the eve of Borrell’s
trip, the US point man on Iran,
Robert Malley, had “reiterated firm US
commitment to come back to the deal” over a meal with the EU diplomatic chief,
according to the EU’s coordinator for the talks, Enrique Mora.
“We remain committed to the path of meaningful
diplomacy, in consultation with our European partners,” Malley said in a tweet.
France, one of the six world powers that agreed the
2015 deal, had on Friday appealed to Iran to “seize this diplomatic opportunity
to conclude now, while this is still possible”.
The nuclear deal Iran reached with Britain, China,
France, Germany, Russia, and the US gave it relief from sanctions in return for
guarantees it could not develop an atomic weapon.
Iran has always denied wanting a nuclear arsenal.
Cameras removed
In April, Secretary of State
Antony Blinken said the US still believed a return to the accord was “the best
way to address the nuclear challenge posed by Iran”.
Blinken warned at the time that the “breakout time”
for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb if it so chooses was “down to a matter of
weeks” after the deal pushed it beyond a year.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board
of governors adopted a resolution this month censuring Iran for failing to
adequately explain the previous discovery of traces of enriched uranium at
three sites which Tehran had not declared as having hosted nuclear activities.
On the same day, June 8, Tehran said it had
disconnected several IAEA cameras that had been monitoring its nuclear sites.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi later confirmed 27 cameras
had been disconnected, leaving about 40 still in place.
The move by Iran, he warned, could deal a “fatal
blow” to the negotiations unless the
UN nuclear watchdog’s inspectors were
given access within three to four weeks.
During the talks
in Vienna aimed at reviving the accord, Iran has repeatedly called for
guarantees from the Biden administration that there will be no repeat of
Trump’s pullout.
Borrell came to “give a last-ditch ultimatum,
declaring that if the negotiations do not lead to an agreement, the failure of
the talks will be announced in the days and weeks to come,” according to
Iranian analyst Ahmad Zeidabadi.
But he told AFP: “I think there are good chances that an
agreement can be concluded” because it is in the interest of the various
parties.
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