EU official nixes possibility of meet between signatories of Iran Nuclear Deal

Signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) pact will not meet Iranian lawmakers at the United States General Assembly (UNGA) to discuss revival of the stalled nuclear deal, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said on Monday. It was previously reported that the signatories were planning to hold ministerial-level talks on the sidelines of the UNGA, however, Borrell debunked the claims saying that it was not on the agenda. 

“Some years it happens, some years it doesn’t happen. It’s not in the agenda,” said Borrell, who acts as coordinator for the nuclear deal.

Despite denying the possibilities of holding a meeting, the top EU negotiator said that it was the “will” of the involved parties to resume negotiations that was pivotal. Notably, Borrell is scheduled to meet his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Tuesday. Just a day ago, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had expressed optimism on the now cancelled meeting saying that it could build “momentum” towards kick starting months of fraught talks on the deal. 

The deal, signed in 2015 between Iran and other major world powers, including the United States, France, Britain, China, Russia, and Germany (P5+1), saw Washington lifting economic sanctions against Tehran and in return, the Islamic Republic agreed to bring down its uranium enrichment programme. However, Donald Trump withdrew the US from the pact in 2018, calling the structure of the deal "rotten". The Islamic Republic then retaliated by nixing its compliance with the deal. As of now, six talks have been held in an attempt to revive the controversial nuclear pact, but despite US President Joe Biden vowing to resume the pact at the earliest, negotiations continue to be in a limbo. 

Tehran's fear 

Earlier this year, US State Secretary Antony Blinken said that that President Biden has “very clearly” asserted his stance to rejoin if Iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the deal. However, Tehran which fears that America would not issue sanction relief even after compliance has called on Washington to take the first step. Meanwhile, Iranian foreign minister Javed Zarif had asked the US administration to revoke sanction on its oil exports which would help the administration to pull the oil-dependent country out of the pandemic induced crisis.

Image: AP