Iranian nuclear power plant | Truce in the negotiations, “space” is reduced

(Vienna) Iranian nuclear negotiators parted ways on Friday, reporting slight progress, but the Europeans insisted on “the urgency” to meet again as soon as possible.

“Some technical progress has been made in the last 24 hours” of talks in Vienna to save the 2015 agreement, however “there is very little space left,” senior diplomats said with one voice. from France, Germany and the United Kingdom (E3).

Reunited with their counterparts from Iran, China and Russia, they ended this seventh session after several days of “hard and intense” discussions according to Tehran. They did not set a new date, hoping to meet again before the New Year.

The head of the Iranian delegation Ali Bagheri wished to return to Tehran, explains E3, which deplored “a disappointing interruption” in the talks, for an undetermined reason.

All the other partners were “ready to continue discussions”, they stressed, calling on the Iranians to “resume them quickly” and accelerate the pace.

“Base of departure”

“We do not have months ahead of us, but rather weeks,” said the coordinator of the European Union (EU), Enrique Mora, who spoke to the press in front of the Coburg palace in the Austrian capital. where the negotiations are taking place.

“I can not yet announce a formal date” for the resumption, he added.

After a first cycle in the spring interrupted by the election in June of a new ultra-conservative Iranian president, diplomats met in Vienna at the end of November.

The beginnings were difficult, but “we finally agreed on the starting point for the discussions”, indicated a source within the E3, which pointed out a few days ago the “radical” requirements of Tehran. And to add: “Now we must get to the heart of the matter”.

Russian Ambassador Mikhail Oulianov welcomed on Twitter the “success” of the latest discussions which “prepared a solid basis for more intensive negotiations”.

Iranian chief negotiator Ali Bagheri, for his part, welcomed the development of a new framework for negotiations, “integrating the points of view” of the Islamic Republic, on the two aspects of the lifting of American sanctions and the program. nuclear.

What is at stake in the Vienna talks aims to bring back into the agreement the United States, which is participating indirectly, Tehran refusing direct discussions with Washington.

This pact fell apart following Washington’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018 under the presidency of Donald Trump.

In response to the reestablishment of punitive measures against it, Iran, which denies wanting to acquire the bomb, has gradually freed itself from the limits imposed on its nuclear program.

Democratic President Joe Biden supports the return of the United States to the deal, while asking its negotiators to prepare in case diplomacy fails.

“This is not going well, because there is no way back yet” in the agreement, said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

“We are paying the price for a disastrous decision” taken by Mr. Trump, he said, noting that the agreement “puts the nuclear program under fire.”

He stressed, however, that “progress at the negotiating table” had been made in recent days. Washington, Sullivan said, is cooperating with E3, but also Russia and China, with whom relations are however very tense.

” Doubts ”

Access to Iranian nuclear sites by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), responsible for monitoring the peaceful nature of Tehran’s activities, has also been significantly reduced in recent months.

The UN body, however, reached an arrangement this week on the replacement of surveillance cameras at the Karaj nuclear site, near Tehran.

These devices were damaged on June 23 according to Iran, which then claimed to have foiled an Israeli “sabotage” operation.

What the Islamic Republic called a “goodwill gesture” on its part helped avert a “short-term crisis” and somewhat lighten the atmosphere of the talks, according to experts.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi greeted reporters on Friday as an “important step”, while expressing “doubts” about the absence of data from one of the cameras.

Extremely suspicious, Iran is convinced that Karaj’s sabotage was made possible by hacking the information gathered by these surveillance devices.

An “absurd” hypothesis, insisted Mr. Grossi, these cameras cannot, according to him, “be tampered with” once installed.