The European Union (EU) and Iran announced on Saturday a resumption “in the coming days” of talks on the nuclear file, suspended for more than three months, on the occasion of a surprise visit to Tehran by the European leader. Joseph Borrell.
EU Foreign Minister and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the announcements at a joint press conference in Tehran after a two-hour tete-a-tete.
To move the process forward, Borrell said that “indirect” contacts between the United States and Iran would take place quickly “in a Gulf country”.
The talks launched in Vienna in April 2021 between Iran and the major powers (Russia, United States, China, France, United Kingdom and Germany) have stalled since March, the Americans and Iranians accusing each other of to block.
They aim to reintegrate the United States into the 2015 agreement providing for limitations on the Iranian nuclear program, denounced in 2018 by then American President Donald Trump, and to bring Iran back to respecting its commitments dictated by this pact. , called JCPOA.
Concluded by Iran and the six powers, the JCPOA aims to guarantee the civilian nature of the nuclear program of Iran, accused of seeking to acquire atomic weapons despite its denials, in exchange for a gradual lifting of sanctions international organizations suffocating the Iranian economy. However, the Trump administration had reinstated American sanctions, provoking the ire of Iran.
“My visit has the main objective of breaking the current dynamic, that is to say the dynamic of escalation” and breaking the deadlock, said Mr. Borrell, accompanied during his one-day visit to Tehran of the EU coordinator responsible for overseeing the Vienna Dialogue, Enrique Mora.
“We will resume discussions on the JCPOA in the coming days,” he said.
Economic benefits
For Mr. Borrell, one of the major obstacles to the negotiations is the enmity between Iran and the United States, longtime enemies.
“We agreed today that this visit will be followed by the resumption of negotiations between Iran and the United States facilitated by my team to try to resolve the outstanding issues,” he said.
During a new conference in the evening, Mr. Borrell told reporters that “bilateral contacts between Iran and the United States will take place in a Gulf country […] faster than you can imagine”.
These discussions will not be direct, “but my team will be there and will make the link between each other”, he explained.
In Vienna, the United States and Iran hold indirect talks, via the EU.
Mr. Borrell underlined in front of his Iranian interlocutor the economic advantages that Iran could derive from a revival of the 2015 agreement, while this country is suffering from sanctions.
“Our bilateral relations have enormous potential, but without a functioning JCPOA, we cannot fully develop them,” he said in a tweet.
He also raised the issue of the “baffling detention of EU citizens in Iran”, referring to several Westerners detained in Iran, on espionage or other charges.
For his part, Mr. Amir-Abdollahian stressed that his country was “ready to resume talks in the coming days”.
“What is important for the Islamic Republic of Iran is the full economic benefit that Iran must derive from the agreement reached in 2015,” he added, referring above all to the lifting of sanctions. .
“We will try to resolve the issues and differences through the talks which will resume soon,” he continued.
Neither Mr. Borrell nor the Iranian minister has given a specific date for the resumption of talks.
“Ultimate”
The nuclear issue has long plagued relations between Iran and the international community.
The US administration of Joe Biden has said it wants to return to the 2015 agreement, provided that Tehran renews its commitments, while Iran previously demands the lifting of sanctions.
At the beginning of June, after the United States and the Europeans passed a resolution at the IAEA denouncing Tehran’s lack of cooperation, Iran disconnected surveillance cameras from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) at its nuclear sites.
But he then stressed that these measures were “reversible” in the event of an agreement in Vienna.
For Iranian political scientist Ahmad Zeidabadi, “Mr. Borrell came to make final proposals and give an ultimatum, stating that if the talks do not lead to an agreement, the failure of the negotiations will be announced in the days and weeks to come “.
But “I think there is a good chance that a deal will be done” because it is in the interest of the various parties, he added.