Iran nuclear talks resume in Vienna with EU mediation
Vienna, Aug 4 (EFE).- Negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran resumed Thursday in Vienna for a fresh round of talks between representatives from Tehran and the United States mediated by the European Union.
EU sources on Thursday told Efe talks were set to resume after Enrique Mora, the bloc’s coordinator for the negotiations, on Wednesday announced his arrival in Vienna “to discuss JCPOA back to full implementation on the basis of the coordinator’s text tabled on 20 July.”
Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, and the US special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, have also announced that they will be in Vienna.
In 2018, then-US president Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal and slapped stiff sanctions on Iran.
After Washington abandoned the deal and in the absence of restrictions, Tehran ramped up uranium enrichment and now has the technical capacity to produce an atomic bomb, Mohammad Eslami, head of the country’s atomic energy organization, said on Monday.
Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and China, the other signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — as it is formally known — are also set to take part in discussions.
This fresh attempt to revive the JCPOA came after the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, hammered out a draft text to try to close negotiations that have been ongoing for 15 months.
In a recent statement, Borrell warned that “the space for additional significant compromises to reach an agreement has been exhausted.”
“A restored agreement will strengthen regional and global security and show that balanced international accords are possible in turbulent times,” the Spanish politician added.
In March negotiations stalled when all parties were close to striking a deal that would have seen the US withdraw sanctions to return to the JCPOA, and Iran agreeing to reduce its nuclear stockpile of enriched uranium.EFE
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