Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Iran nuclear talks see little advance with U.S.
Delegates hopeful of ‘positive momentum’
BERLIN — Talks aimed at bringing the United States back into the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran broke Friday without any immediate signs of progress on the issues dividing Washington and Tehran but with delegates talking of a constructive atmosphere and resolving to continue the discussions.
Two groups that have been meeting in Vienna since Tuesday to brainstorm ways to secure the lifting of American sanctions and Iran’s return to compliance with the deal reported their initial progress to a commission of diplomats from the world powers that remain in the deal: France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia.
Russian delegate Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted that participants had “noted with satisfaction the initial progress made.”
“The commission will reconvene next week in order to maintain the positive momentum,” he said.
The talks took place without the United States, which left the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018, under then-President Donald Trump. He embarked on a campaign of “maximum pressure” by restoring previous sanctions and adding new ones on Iran.
But an American delegation headed by the Biden administration’s special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has been in the Austrian capital this week. Representatives from the other world powers have been shuttling between the U.S. and the Iranians to aid indirect talks.
A State Department official said the overall atmosphere was “businesslike” and encouraging but cautioned that the U.S. is waiting for Iran to show it is serious about responding to the sanctions relief the Biden administration might offer. The official was not authorized to discuss the talks by name and spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
The official said that in exchange for Iran’s return to full compliance, the U.S. is prepared to lift all of the Trump-era sanctions that are “inconsistent” with the deal and sanctions that are “inconsistent with the benefits” that Iran expected to get from it.
The official said that some non-nuclear sanctions, such as those related to terrorism, human rights and ballistic missiles, would remain in place. If Iran holds to a position that every single sanction imposed on it since the U.S. withdrew from the deal must be lifted, the official said “we’re heading to an impasse.”
But the official also left open the possibility that some non-nuclear sanctions could be lifted or eased because of the manner in which the Trump administration imposed them, including by using alternate authorities not covered by the deal.
The official said the previous administration had pursued the withdrawal from the deal with the “purposeful and self-avowed intent to make it difficult for any future administration” to return to it.
After the U.S. withdrawal, Iran has been openly violating the deal’s restrictions, steadily increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium, increasing the purity it is enriching, and installing and operating new, more efficient centrifuges, among other things.
President Joe Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama when the original deal was negotiated, has said he wants to bring the U.S. back into the deal but that Iran must reverse its violations.
Iran argues that Washington’s departure from the deal was the first violation and that the U.S. must make the first move and remove sanctions before Iran returns to compliance.