VIENNA — The
US and the EU’s Iran nuclear
envoys on Wednesday said they were traveling to Vienna for talks with Tehran’s
delegation as they seek to salvage the agreement on its atomic ambitions.
اضافة اعلان
The US State Department’s point man on negotiations
with Iran, Rob Malley, announced his trip to Austria on Twitter after talks
over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program have stalled for months.
“Our expectations are in check, but the US welcomes
EU efforts and is prepared for a good faith attempt to reach a deal,” Malley
said.
“It will shortly be clear if Iran is prepared for
the same,” he added.
EU nuclear coordinator Enrique Mora was also due in
Vienna “to discuss (getting)
JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) back to
full implementation”, he tweeted, referring to the 2015 deal intended to
prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb.
Iran said it was “optimistic” about the talks as it
also announced on Wednesday it was sending a delegation led by Ali Bagheri “as
part of the policy of lifting cruel sanctions against our country”.
“Heading to Vienna to advance the negotiations,”
Bagheri tweeted.
“The Onus is on those who breached the deal and have
failed to distance from ominous legacy. The US must seize the opportunity
offered by the JCPOA partners’ generosity; ball is in their court to show
maturity and act responsibly.”
Negotiations between Iran and world powers, which
began in 2021 to reintegrate Joe Biden’s US into the agreement, have been stalled
since March.
In late June, Qatar hosted indirect talks between
Tehran and Washington in the hope of getting the process back on track — but
those talks failed to make a breakthrough.
In a last-ditch effort, EU foreign policy chief
Josep Borrell submitted a compromise proposal last month and called on the
parties to accept it to avoid a “dangerous nuclear crisis”.
Borrell said the draft text includes “hard-won
compromises by all sides” and “addresses, in precise detail, the sanctions
lifting as well as the nuclear steps needed to restore” the 2015 pact.
‘Hope for a breakthrough’
A Vienna-based European
diplomat told AFP he welcomed “a meeting that showcases the willingness of
everyone to move forward”.
“It’s positive, but at the same time nothing is
guaranteed. We have been trying to conclude the negotiations for months,” he
added.
Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group said the
parties’ return to Vienna means there is “some hope for a breakthrough”.
But Henry Rome, an Iran specialist at American
consultancy Eurasia Group, told AFP expectations were “rightfully modest”
because the US and Iran “remain far apart” on key issues.
These include sanctions, Iranian demands for
guarantees, and the end of a probe by the UN nuclear watchdog. “Resolving each
of them will be hard,” said Vaez.
But “both sides benefit from keeping the prospect of
a deal alive even as they both seem resigned to its eventual demise,” Rome told
AFP.
“Given how unattractive the alternatives to the
agreement are for both sides, neither is willing to pull the plug on the
negotiations,” added Vaez.
Signed by Iran and six powers — Britain, China,
France, Germany, Russia, and the US — the JCPOA aims to guarantee the civilian
nature of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a gradual lifting of
sanctions.
But following the unilateral withdrawal of the US in
2018 under Donald Trump and the re-imposition of US sanctions, Tehran has
backtracked on its obligations.
Iran subsequently exceeded the JCPOA’s uranium
enrichment rate of 3.67 percent, rising to 20 percent in early 2021.
It then crossed an unprecedented 60-percent
threshold, getting closer to the 90 percent needed to make a bomb.
The head of the UN nuclear watchdog,
Rafael Grossi, on
Tuesday warned Iran’s program was “moving ahead very, very fast” and “growing
in ambition and capacity”.
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