by Parisa Hafezi
DUBAI (Reuters) – Indirect talks between Iran and the United States resumed in Vienna with a meeting between Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and the European Union’s special envoy, who is coordinating efforts to revive the 2015 agreement, Iran’s official press reported on Thursday.
Tehran and Washington have both played down the possibility of a major breakthrough during this round of talks, while the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell has warned that there is no more room for maneuver to carry out important additional compromises.
EU special envoy Enrique Mora will shuttle between chief Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and US special envoy for Iran Rob Malley, who reported on Wednesday via qu he went to Vienna with measured expectations.
A symbol of the lack of flexibility that Tehran is ready to show, Ali Bagheri Kani suggested that it was up to Washington to make concessions, declaring before his departure for Vienna that the United States should “show maturity and act responsibly”.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in Vienna in 2015, has been shattered since former US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018 and reinstated the sanctions against Iran.
Since then, Tehran has gradually freed itself from the terms of the agreement, particularly in terms of uranium enrichment.
While the outlines of a new agreement were approved last March after 11 months of talks in Vienna, talks have stalled as the United States refuses to withdraw the Revolutionary Guards. from the list of terrorist groups, as requested by Iran.
In an attempt to break the impasse, Josep Borrell proposed a new draft text in July, with which two Iranian officials said Tehran was “not satisfied”.
“Iran has shown enough flexibility. Now it’s up to (US President Joe Biden) to make a decision. We have our own suggestions that will be discussed at the talks in Vienna, such as the gradual lifting of sanctions against the Guardians,” a senior Iranian official told Reuters.
Tehran also wants Washington to commit not to withdraw from the nuclear agreement in the future, a promise that the Biden administration says it cannot legally make.
(Report Parisa Hafezi; French version Augustin Turpin, edited by Jean Terzian)
