Vienna Talks to Restart in Coming Days

Stalled negotiations on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal will be resumed “in coming days and immediately,” according to the European Union coordinator of the nuclear agreement, Josep Borrell. 
“It has been decided in Washington and Tehran that the talks start again,” he said at a joint press briefing with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran on Saturday, ISNA reported. 
“We are set to break the impasse in Vienna negotiations quickly and put an end to the tensions of the past days,” he added. 
Borrell had arrived in Tehran on Friday for discussions on the talks in the Austrian capital Vienna aimed at restoring the nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 
He met Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday and co-chaired a meeting of diplomatic delegations attended by Iran’s top negotiator Ali Baqeri Kani and the EU representative to the JCPOA talks, Enrique Mora. 
“We agreed on resumption of negotiations between Iran and US in the coming days, facilitated by my team, to solve the last outstanding issues,” Borrell said in a tweet following the meeting that took four hours. 
Amir-Abdollahian said they had lengthy and positive discussions where Iran underlined its demands and expressed readiness to return to the talks in the coming days.
He expressed hope that the United States would adopt a “realistic and fair approach” this time and would act responsibly in the course of negotiations until the final stage. 
The JCPOA had lifted sanctions on Iran in return for restrictions on its nuclear activity, but the US pulled out four years ago and reimposed tough sanctions that prompted Tehran to row back on its commitments. 
Negotiations started in April 2021 in Vienna to work out how both sides can resume compliance, but the talks have been paused since March over a few final differences despite agreement on the majority of issues. 
As coordinator of the JCPOA, the EU has been shuttling between the two to find a way out of the deadlock. 
“My visit to Tehran has one main objective: give new momentum to the negotiations and bring the nuclear deal #JCPOA back on track,” Borrell tweeted. 

Complete Benefit

France had also called on Iran on Friday to take advantage of Borrell’s visit to conclude the talks. 
“We are ready to reach a conclusion on this deal and we urge Iran to take advantage of this diplomatic opportunity to conclude it now, while it still remains possible,” said a statement from the French foreign affairs ministry.
Amir-Abdollahian stressed that Iran always welcomes the course of diplomacy and decent and result-oriented dialogue, even as the US continues its unfaithful behavior. 
Tehran, however, maintains the conclusion of talks relies on the US political decision to remove all components of its so-called maximum pressure. 
“What matters to us is complete economic benefit from the deal that was struck in 2015 … whatever affects Iran’s complete benefit from a revived JCPOA will not be acceptable for Iran,” he said at a press conference. 
Borrell also tweeted that EU-Iran bilateral relations have enormous potential “but without a working JCPOA we cannot fully develop our relationship.” 
“Reaching a deal is important for Iran, Europe and the whole world … international concerns must be addressed and Iran must enjoy its economic interests,” he said at the briefing. 
The EU diplomats had a dinner with US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley before their visit to Tehran.
Mora said in a tweet that they had “in-depth conversation about the JCPOA and regional perspectives in the wider Middle East,” and that Malley had reiterated firm US commitment to come back to the deal. 
Malley also took to twitter to thank the EU officials for their continued close coordination with the US. 
“We remain committed to the path of meaningful diplomacy, in consultation with our European partners,” he said.