EU chief says ‘pause’ is needed in talks on Iran’s tattered nuclear deal
THE European Union’s foreign policy chief said yesterday that “a pause” was needed in ongoing talks over Iran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers, blaming “external factors” for the delay.
The comments by Josep Borrell come as a road map appeared imminent for the US to rejoin an accord it unilaterally withdrew from in 2018 and for Iran to again limit its rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
And while Mr Borrell did not elaborate, it also comes as Russia last week tied the ongoing negotiations to sanctions Moscow faces over its war on Ukraine.
“A pause in #Viennatalks is needed, due to external factors. A final text is essentially ready and on the table,” Mr Borrell wrote on Twitter. “As co-ordinator, I will, with my team, continue to be in touch with all #JCPOA participants and the US to overcome the current situation and to close the agreement.”
The JCPOA, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is the 2015 nuclear deal’s formal name. Talks have been going on for months in Vienna over trying to come up with a way to restart the deal.
Responding to Mr Borrell, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said the pause “could be a momentum for resolving any remaining issue and a final return”. “Successful conclusion of talks will be the main focus of all,” Mr Khatibzadeh wrote on Twitter. “No external factor will affect our joint will to go forward for a collective agreement.”
Mr Khatibzadeh as well did not identify the “external” issue. However, Iran has been careful in the waning days of the talks not to upset Russia, which it views as an ally against the US.
Russian ambassador to Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, speaking to journalists outside of the Vienna hotel where the talks took place, said: “I’m not aware of any impasse.”
“Contacts will continue,” he said. “The conclusion of the deal does not depend on Russia only.”
In Germany, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Andrea Sasse also said “the work is done” in terms of an agreement, but decisions needed to be made in foreign capitals.
“We hope and expect that this will now happen,” Ms Sasse said.
On Thursday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price had said America was “close to a possible deal – it’s really down to a very small number of outstanding issues.”
But last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he wanted “guarantees at least at the level of the secretary of state” that the US sanctions would not affect Moscow’s relationship with Tehran. That threw into question the months of negotiations held so far on restoring the 2015 deal, which saw
Iran agree to drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.
“The new Russia-related sanctions are wholly unrelated to the JCPOA and should not have any impact on a potential mutual return to compliance with it or its ultimate implementation,” Mr Price said Thursday.
“We also have no intention of offering Russia anything new or specific as it relates to the (Ukraine) sanctions, nor is anything new required to successfully reach an agreement on a mutual return to full compliance with the” deal. The 2015 nuclear deal saw Iran put advanced centrifuges into storage under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), while keeping its enrichment at 3.67 per cent purity and its stockpile at only 300kg of uranium. It also halted enrichment at its underground Fordo nuclear facility.
But then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, fulfilling a campaign pledge to tear up the deal as it did not address Iran’s ballistic missile programme and support for regional militias. Iran in 2019 then began methodically breaking all the deal’s limits as a series of escalating attacks put the wider Middle East on edge.
As of February 19, the IAEA says Iran’s stockpile of all enriched uranium was nearly 3,200kg. Some has been enriched up to 60% purity – a short technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Meanwhile, Iran has stopped the IAEA from accessing its surveillance camera footage and has resumed enrichment at Fordo.
That worried nuclear non-proliferation experts. While Iran insists its programme is peaceful, the IAEA and Western governments say Iran had an organised military nuclear programme up until the end of 2003.
Mr Trump left office without ever meaningfully engaging in diplomacy with Iran over the nuclear deal. President Joe Biden entered the White House last year, saying he was willing to see America rejoin the agreement.
Seeing Iran able to sell its crude oil and natural gas in the global market also could push down energy prices.
The conclusion of the deal does not depend on Russia only