US says Iran backtracked on compromises made during nuclear accord revival talks
▶ State Department official accuses new negotiating team from Tehran of taking but giving nothing
Iran has backtracked on compromises it made in talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers, a senior US State Department official said yesterday.
It took those made by others and asked for more during indirect US-Iranian talks last week, the official said.
Iran continues to accelerate its uranium enrichment programme towards weaponsgrade materials, and China and Russia were taken aback by how far Tehran had pulled back its proposals in last week’s talks in Vienna, the official said.
Indirect US-Iran talks broke off on Friday as European officials voiced dismay at sweeping demands by Iran’s hardline government.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Iran “did not seem to be serious” about returning to the 2015 accord.
A seventh round of talks in Vienna was to be the first with delegates sent by Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on reviving the agreement under which Iran limited its nuclear programme in return for relief from economic sanctions.
Iran arrived in Vienna “with proposals that walked back anything – any of the compromises Iran had floated here in the six rounds of talks, pocketed all the compromises that others, and the US in particular, had made, and then asked for more”, the official said.
He said he did not know when talks would resume – other officials said they would reconvene this week – and he emphasised that the date was less important than Iran’s willingness to negotiate seriously.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear regulator, has said Iran is continuing to enrich uranium to 20 per cent using centrifuges in an underground site at Fordow, near Qom.
The EU said this was unacceptable and would put Tehran on the path to possessing weapons-grade uranium.
The EU has called the work at Fordow, which was confirmed by the IAEA on January 4, “a very serious development and a matter of deep concern”.
“Iran right now does not seem to be serious about doing what’s necessary to return to compliance, which is why we ended this round of talks in Vienna,” Mr Blinken said.
“If the path to a return to compliance with the agreement turns out to be a dead end, we will pursue other options,” he said, without elaborating.
A State Department official told The National that the responsibility for the failure to reach a breakthrough lay with Iran.
“They did not come to Vienna with constructive proposals. Iran’s approach this week was not, unfortunately, to try to resolve the remaining issues.”
Diplomats from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3, said significant gaps remained – and new ones had appeared – and accused Iran of retreating from compromises made during the previous six rounds of negotiations this year.
The talks, involving Iran, China, the EU, France, Germany, Russia and the UK, were paused in June for the Iranian presidential elections that took Mr Raisi to power. The US has been involved in Vienna only indirectly.
Ali Kani was appointed as the head of the Iranian delegation, which was said to have made extreme demands in return for compliance with the accord.
He said Iran’s proposals were evidence “of our serious will to reach an agreement”, but also acknowledged there were differences between the delegations.
“I told them it’s normal that we’re not presenting documents and suggestions which correspond to your points of view,” Mr Kani said on Friday after the talks.
The State Department official said Iran’s accelerating nuclear programme was unprecedented. “That cannot continue,” the official said. “It will inevitably lead to a crisis.”
On Friday, European diplomats involved in the talks issued a joint statement saying that Iran had made significant changes to a draft agreement that had been almost finalised by all sides.
“Over five months ago, Iran interrupted negotiations. Since then, Iran has fast-forwarded its nuclear programme. This week, it has backtracked on diplomatic progress made,” E3 officials said a joint statement.
The Iranian delegation had demanded “major changes” and the diplomats said it was “unclear how these new gaps can be closed in a realistic time frame”, they said.
The delegations will now “return to capitals to assess the situation and seek instructions before reconvening next week to see whether gaps can be closed or not”.
“Our governments remain fully committed to a diplomatic way forward but time is running out,” they said.
EU diplomat Enrique Mora, who led the meetings, said substantial challenges lay ahead and that “time is not unlimited; there is an obvious sense of urgency”.
Pressed on what had been achieved last week in Vienna, Mr Mora said there was progress “in the sense that we have had a new Iranian delegation, they have engaged in negotiations with other delegations”.
“We are incorporating, also, new policy sensitivities for the new Iranian delegations,” he said.
“But again, the point of departure, the common ground is where we finished on June 20.”