Iran waiting for US approach to the nuclear talks

Iran said on Monday that it was awaiting the US reaction to “options” discussed with the EU ambassador for breaking the deadlock in talks to restore the 2015 nuclear accord.

Enrique Mora, the European Union’s coordinator for nuclear talks with Iran, met with the Islamic Republic’s main negotiator Ali Bagheri in Tehran last week, prompting the EU to declare the talks reopened.

The talks to bring the US back into the pact and Iran into full compliance with it had been deadlocked for roughly two months.

“Serious and result-oriented negotiations with special initiatives from Iran were held,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters.

“If the US gives its response to some of the solutions that were proposed, we can be in the position that all sides return to Vienna,” where the talks are held, he added during his weekly press conference.

Iran has been in direct talks with France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, and China to resurrect the deal, technically known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Indirectly, the United States has taken part.

The 2015 agreement granted Iran economic relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, preventing Tehran from acquiring an atomic weapon, which it has always denied desiring.

However, the US unilateral departure from the agreement in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, as well as the reimposition of harsh economic sanctions, spurred Iran to begin withdrawing from its own obligations.

“If the US announces its political decision today, which we have not yet received, we can say that an important step has been taken in the progress of the negotiations,” Khatibzadeh noted.

Among the sticking points is Tehran’s demand to remove the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of Iran’s military, from a US terrorism list.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell on Friday said Mora’s mission to Tehran went “better than expected” and the stalled negotiations “have been reopened.”

Washington, however, has adopted a less optimistic tone. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Friday that “at this point, a deal remains far from certain.”

He added: “It is up to Iran to decide whether it wants to conclude a deal quickly.”

Talks on reviving the agreement began in April last year.

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