VIENNA— Negotiators in
Vienna resumed talks Monday over reviving Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal and removing all sanctions imposed on the country under the former U.S. president Donald Trump.
The remaining signatories to the nuclear deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — Iran, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain — convened at the Palais Coburg, the luxury hotel where the agreement was signed six years ago.
The U.S. remains outside of the negotiations as it has for other talks since leaving the deal under then-President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran. Other members will brief the U.S. delegation later.
The talks came as Austria is a week into a lockdown imposed because of a surge of coronavirus cases. Iran’s official media aired images from inside the talks as journalists remained outside of the hotel.
The last round of talks, aimed at bringing the U.S. back into compliance with the agreement and paving the way for the country to rejoin, was held in June. Since then, the task has only become more difficult.
President Joe Biden has signaled that he wants to rejoin the deal, but he has shown a bizarre interest in having the key elements of Washington’s most draconian sanctions regime ever intact.
A U.S. delegation headed by the administration’s so-called special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, is reportedly Vienna to watch the developments.
“Despite the formation of a new government in the United States, not only have the illegal and unilateral sanctions remained in place, but the policy of imposing sanctions on Iran has continued to exist,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said Monday.
“In the past four years, the government of the United States has spared no effort to crush the nuclear deal, and it was Iran that did all it could to keep the deal alive,” he said.
The nuclear deal saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the removal of sanctions. After the deal’s collapse, Iran waited for a year to see the other parties redress any harm inflicted on Tehran and protect it from unilateral hostile measures by the U.S.
The Europeans, however, failed to take any meaningful action, prompting the Islamic Republic to scale down its compliance with the nuclear agreement as per an article which allows the sides to take countermeasures if their interests are not protected.
Now, Iran enriches small amounts of uranium up to 60% purity and spins advanced centrifuges and its uranium stockpile now exceeds the accord’s limits.
Russia’s top representative, Mikhail Ulyanov, said he held “useful” informal consultations with officials from Iran and China on Sunday. That meeting, he said, was aimed at “better understanding ... the updated negotiating position of Tehran.“ He tweeted a picture of a meeting Monday he described as a preparatory session with members before Iran joined the discussions.
Enrique Mora, the European Union official chairing the talks, also wrote on Twitter of “intense preparatory work ongoing.”
A delegation appointed by new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is joining the negotiations for the first time. Iran has called for the U.S. to unfreeze $10 billion in assets as an initial goodwill gesture.
Ali Baqeri, an Iranian nuclear negotiator, said late Sunday that the Islamic Republic “has entered the talks with serious willpower and strong preparation.” However, he cautioned that “we cannot anticipate a timeframe on the length of these talks now.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh meanwhile suggested Monday that the U.S. could “receive a ticket for returning to the room” of the nuclear talks if it agrees to “the real removal of sanctions.” He also criticized a recent opinion piece written by the foreign ministers of Britain and the occupying regime of Israel.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the meeting “the last opportunity for the Iranians to come to the table” after a meeting with Zionist foreign minister Yair Lapid.
“We want those talks to work,” Truss said. “But if they don’t work, all options are on the table.”
In an interview with NPR broadcast Friday, U.S. negotiator Malley said signs from Iran “are not particularly encouraging.”
Malley warned that Washington would be ready to ramp up pressure on Tehran if the talks collapse.
Diplomats have said Washington has suggested negotiating an open-ended interim accord with Tehran as long as a permanent deal is not achieved. Iranian officials have made it clear that Tehran has no intention of accepting an interim deal.
“The United States still fails to properly understand the fact that there is no way to return to the deal without a verifiable and effective lifting of all sanctions,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a statement shortly after the talks resumed.
“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,” he said. “This opportunity is not a window that can remain open forever.”
In an article, Amir-Abdollahian said the main goal of the talks is to have all sanctions removed, adding Iran will not accept any requests beyond the scope of the deal.
“The main goal of these negotiations is the restoration of the rights of the Iranian nation and removal of all the sanctions imposed unilaterally and extraterritorially on Iran by the United States, which is no longer a party to the JCPOA,” he wrote, referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“The main objective of the upcoming talks should be the full and effective implementation of the JCPOA and the pursuit of the goal of normalization of trade relations and economic cooperation with Iran,” he said.
“It goes without saying that in order to return to the JCPOA, Iran should benefit fully from the lifting of all the sanctions. Iran is prepared to cease application of all its remedial measures if guarantees are provided, damages are assessed, and all sanctions are effectively and verifiably lifted.”
The likely return of the U.S. to the nuclear deal, he said, would not be meaningful “unless guarantees are presented to prevent the recurrence of the bitter experience of the past and Iran’s trade partners could confidently enter into long term economic engagement with Iran free from any concern.”
“What is clear in the forthcoming negotiations is that Iran will not accept requests beyond the JCPOA. The Islamic Republic of Iran will not enter into any discussion whatsoever about issues beyond the nuclear deal,” he added.
Amir-Abdollahian said the new round of talks in Vienna provide an opportunity for all parties to end the current deadlock over the nuclear deal.
“I would like to emphasize once again that this opportunity is not a window that could remain open forever and the U.S. and the three European countries must well understand this.”