Nuclear talks resume with guarded hopes for gains
VIENNA — Negotiators in Vienna resumed talks Monday over restoring Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, with the United States taking part at arms length as in previous rounds since the Trump administration pulled out of the accord three years ago.
Hopes of quick progress were muted after a hard-line new government in Tehran led to a more-than-five-month hiatus in negotiations. But the European Union official chairing the talks sounded an upbeat note after the first meeting concluded.
“I feel positive that we can be doing important things for the next weeks,” EU diplomat Enrique Mora told reporters.
All participants had shown a willingness to listen to the positions and “sensibilities” of the new Iranian delegation, Mora said. At the same time, Tehran’s team made clear it wanted to engage in “serious work” to bring the accord back to life, he said.
The remaining signatories to the nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — Iran, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain — convened at the Palais Coburg, the hotel where the agreement was signed six years ago.
A U.S. delegation headed by the Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, was staying at a nearby hotel where it was being briefed on the talks by diplomats from the other countries.
“There is a sense of urgency in putting an end to the suffering of the Iranian people,” said Mora, referring to the crippling sanctions the U.S. re-imposed on Iran when it quit the accord.
“And there is a sense of urgency in putting the Iranian nuclear program under the transparent monitoring of the international community,” he said.
The United States left the deal under former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran in 2018.
The nuclear deal saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Since the deal’s collapse, Iran now enriches small amounts of uranium up to 60% purity — a short step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran also spins advanced centrifuges barred by the accord and its uranium stockpile now far exceeds the accord’s limits.