TEHRAN -- Qatar’s Emir will visit Iran soon, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh confirmed on Monday during a news conference.
“The visit of the Emir of Qatar to Tehran is on the agenda and includes bilateral, regional and international issues. After this trip, Iran’s President will travel to a Persian Gulf country,” Khatibzadeh said.
Reports said on Sunday that Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will visit Iran before travelling to Germany, Britain and other European states to discuss efforts to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal and energy security in Europe.
The source added the Emir’s trip aimed at bringing parties to the Iran nuclear pact to a “new middle ground.” This follows an impasse in Vienna talks over Washington’s refusal to undo its wrongs, including remove the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps from the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organization list.
Qatar’s Emir last visited Iran in January 2020 to reduce tensions between Tehran and Washington following the assassination of top IRGC Commander General Qassem Soleimani by the United States whilst on a visit to Iraq.
Iranian state media also reported the Emir’s trip was meant to follow up on several bilateral memoranda of understanding signed during Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Doha in February.
Khatibzadeh also said the European Union’s coordinator for talks between Iran and other countries will visit Tehran this week.
The coordinator, Enrique Mora, has played a key role as an intermediary during a year of on-off talks in Vienna that seek to revive the nuclear deal.
The date of Mora’s arrival in Iran’s capital has not been confirmed, but local press reported he is expected on Tuesday.
“The agenda for talks in Tehran is nearly finalized,” Khatibzadeh said. Mora “will meet with Ali Baqeri, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator.”
The 2015 deal gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
It was agreed between Iran and the five permanent United Nations Security Council members China, Russia, the United States, United Kingdom and France, alongside Germany.
But Washington unilaterally withdrew in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed biting economic sanctions, prompting Iran to begin rolling back its own commitments.
Talks in Vienna have focused on bringing Washington back into the deal and removing its sanctions.
“Mora’s trip moves the talks in the right direction,” Khatibzadeh said, noting that messages are “constantly exchanged between Iran and the United States via the European Union”.
The Vienna talks have been stalled since March, and Iran called on April 25 for a meeting to revive the dialogue “as soon as possible”.
Khatibzadeh said that the media “must not reduce the issues between Iran and the United States to a single issue, such as the IRGC”.
Khatibzadeh added that the red “lines set by the high authorities of the Islamic Republic have been respected, and that is why we are here today”.
“If the United States decides today to respect the rights of the Iranian people, we can go to Vienna after Mora’s visit and sign the agreement,” he said.