IRIA News

The indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran on the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement resumed in Vienna, on November 29 after a five-month suspension.

The officials from Iran, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany met in Vienna on November 29 since Tehran refused to hold direct talks with Washington after the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement.

After the first round of negotiations, the representatives of the European Union, Russia, and Iran that participated in the dialogues, presented an optimistic assessment.

The European Union official Enrique Mora said that he felt “extremely positive” after the meeting. Despite no decision on the fixed timeline of agreement, Mora stated that all countries expressed “a sense of urgency in bringing the JCPOA back to life”.

The Iranian negotiator accepted the work done over the previous six rounds as a good basis for reaching an agreement and expressed his willingness to engage in work “seriously”, Mora added.

The talks were aimed at preventing the collapse of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program reached in Vienna in July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1.

Russian special envoy Mikhail Ulyanov said on Twitter that the talks “started quite successfully”. While Iranian representative Ali Bagheri Kani told reporters that he was optimistic about the meeting.

Since the delegation mainly included economic officials, Iranian negotiators asserted that they are focused on the lift of sanctions rather than nuclear issues. Iran’s top negotiator also called the sanctions “tyrannical, unlawful and cruel”.

The talks in Vienna continued till November 30 with the focus on classification of sanctions, resolving differences over lifting the sanctions in connection with the nuclear agreement and making sure that those sanctions are not imposed on Iran over human rights and terrorism issues rather than abuse of power or terrorist activities due to the continued existence of human rights in Iran.

On December 1, Iran agreed to discuss the steps needed to restore compliance with the agreement, however, Tehran emphasizes that the order of discussions is important for reaching a final agreement.

On the sidelines of the conference, several informal meetings were held, including a trilateral meeting between Iran, Russia, and China, and the representatives of the EU and Iran.

Before the meeting began, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian issued a statement stating that if the United States did not lift all sanctions imposed on Iran, when it initially abandoned the multinational agreement in 2018, there would be “no way to return” to the deal.

“The return of the U.S. to the nuclear deal would be meaningless without guarantees to prevent the recurrence of the bitter experience of the past… this opportunity is not a window that can remain open forever,” the Iranian Foreign Minister said.

Previously the U.S. special envoy Robert Malley said that Washington is ready to take all of the necessary steps to return into compliance, which includes lifting the sanctions on Iran that were imposed by the Trump administration.

On November 29, the U.S. Department of State spokesperson Jalina Porter reiterated the U.S. demand for a return to mutual compliance with the deal, and said: “If Iran demands more or offers less than a mutual return to compliance, these negotiations will not succeed.”

Despite six rounds of talks in Vienna, the U.S. and Iran disagree on steps that need to be taken, and the disagreement remains on sanctions relief.

Earlier in April 2021, Iran and P5+1 countries started discussions on saving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, after the former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal. Later on, the Western countries have been increasingly concerned about Iran’s nuclear progress, as the talks between Iran and P5+1 were suspended in June after six rounds due to the regime change in Tehran.

The JCPOA was aimed at limiting Iran’s production of enriched uranium, which is widely used as fuel for nuclear power plants and could also be used for the development of nuclear weapons. Although Iran insists that it does not seek nuclear weapons, many Western countries argue that Tehran has enriched uranium to 60% and deployed advanced centrifuges. In response, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh accused the European signatories of JCPOA of delaying the lifting of sanctions.