TEHRAN | Four days after the resumption of negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, the European Union has put a final text on the table, but Tehran has not yet given its approval.
• Read also: Iranian nuclear: resumption of talks to break the impasse
“Today the text is on the table of the high representatives,” a European official told the press on condition of anonymity, hoping for a conclusion “in the coming weeks.”
“The negotiation is over, this is the final text (…) and it will not be renegotiated”, he insisted, with the will to go quickly after already more than a year of discussions and a blockage for several months.
“However, behind every technical question and every paragraph hides a political decision that must be taken in capitals,” said EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell on Twitter.
Diplomats from all parties (Iran, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany) returned to the Austrian capital last Thursday for yet another attempt to save the moribund 2015 agreement, under the aegis of the EU.
The pact, known by its English acronym JCPOA, aims to guarantee the civilian nature of Iran’s nuclear program, accused of seeking to acquire atomic weapons despite its denials.
But following the unilateral withdrawal from the agreement in 2018 by the United States at the instigation of Donald Trump and the reinstatement of American sanctions which are stifling its economy, Tehran has gradually freed itself from its obligations.
The objective of the talks, in which the United States participates indirectly, is to put the process back on track.
“Now the ball is in the capitals’ court and we will see what will happen,” added the European official. “Nobody stays in Vienna”.
Insisting on the “quality of the text”, he said “we strongly hope that it will be accepted” and that an agreement will be reached “in a few weeks”.
Obstacle of undeclared sites
Iran replied reviewing the 25-page document.
“As soon as we received these ideas, we shared our initial response and our thoughts (…) but of course the clauses require a global examination and we will transmit our views and our remarks” to the EU and “to the other parties,” said a Foreign Affairs official, quoted by the Irna agency, without further details.
There remains a major obstacle: Iran is asking the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to close the question of undeclared sites, where traces of enriched uranium had been found.
“It has nothing to do with the JCPOA. At the same time, Iran says it is fundamental. I hope that Iran and the IAEA will have an agreement because it will facilitate many things”, declared the European person in charge.
“The agency should completely resolve the issue (…) technically, and move away from irrelevant and non-constructive political issues,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned on Sunday.
Arms Control Association expert Kelsey Davenport, however, warned against the IAEA abandoning the investigation in an effort to reach an agreement on the JCPOA.
“That would be a mistake,” she wrote on Twitter.
“If the United States and the other states parties to the agreement did not support the UN body, “it would weaken its mission and the broader objectives of non-proliferation”.