Teheran says ball in Washington’s court for deal revival

DUBAI/TEHERAN — Iran said on Monday that the revival of Teheran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers depends on Washington, amid expectations that talks to save the pact will resume soon after the top European Union diplomat’s trip to the Islamic Republic.

“The ball is in Washington’s court now,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly televised news conference.

Talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal will resume within days after being stalled for months, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Saturday during a surprise visit to Teheran.

Iranian media reported that Qatar would likely host the negotiations. The new round of talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal is very likely to be held in Qatar’s capital Doha, Iran’s Nournews reported on Sunday.

‘Better chance’

The news outlet tweeted that Qatar stands a “better chance of hosting the forthcoming talks” because of its “ongoing efforts to resume talks on lifting sanctions”.

On the sidelines of the G7 gathering of the world’s top industrialized powers on Tuesday, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and the United States will hold four-way talks on Iran’s nuclear program, according to the French presidency, with Teheran’s oil exports as one of the issues to be raised.

Among topics to be broached are the “question of oil” and “a willingness to stop proliferation”, said a senior French official, without giving further details.

With crude prices soaring over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, market analysts have suggested that Iranian oil could replace some of the shunned Russian stocks.

In another development, Iranian state television said on Sunday that Teheran has launched a solid-fueled rocket with a satellite carrier.

Iran had also acknowledged that it planned tests for the satellite-carrying Zuljanah rocket. State-run media said the rocket launch was successful.