Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
World Powers Seek to Bring US Back into Iran Nuclear Deal
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
April 6, 2021

Share

VIENNA — Officials from five world powers began a new effort Tuesday to try to bring the United States back into the foundering 2015 nuclear deal they signed with Iran, a delicate diplomatic dance that needs to balance the concerns and interests of both Washington and Tehran.

The meeting in Vienna of envoys from Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and Iran came as the U.S. was due to start its own indirect talks with Iran. It would be one of the first signs of tangible progress in efforts to return both nations to the accord, which restricted Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from U.S. and international sanctions.

Initial Talks ‘Successful’

Following the closed meetings of the signatories to the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Russia’s delegate, Mikhail Ulyanov, tweeted that the initial talks were “successful.”

“The restoration of JCPOA will not happen immediately. It will take some time. How long? Nobody knows,” he wrote. “The most important thing after today’s meeting of the Joint Commission is that practical work towards achieving this goal has started.”

In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the accord, opting for what he called a maximum-pressure campaign involving restored and additional American sanctions.

Since then, Iran has been steadily violating restrictions in the deal, like the amount of enriched uranium that it can stockpile and the purity to which it can be enriched. Tehran’s moves have been calculated to pressure the other nations in the deal to do more to offset crippling U.S. sanctions reimposed under Trump.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who was vice president under Barack Obama when the original deal was negotiated, has said he wants to bring the U.S. back into the JCPOA but that Iran must reverse its violations.

Iran argues that the U.S. violated the deal first with its withdrawal, so Washington has to take the first step by lifting sanctions.

Following the meeting in Vienna, Iranian state television quoted Iran’s negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, as reiterating that message during the opening round of talks.

“Lifting U.S. sanctions is the first and the most necessary action for reviving the deal,” Araghchi was quoted as saying. “Iran is fully ready to reverse its activities and return to complete implementation of the deal immediately after it is verified sanctions are lifted.”

At the meeting, participants agreed to establish two expert-level groups, one on the lifting of sanctions and one on nuclear issues, which were “tasked to identify concrete measures to be taken by Washington and Tehran to restore full implementation of JCPOA,” Ulyanov tweeted.

They are to start work immediately, and report their conclusions to the main negotiators.

Getting the U.S. Back in the Deal is Key to Return Iran to Compliance

The ultimate goal of the deal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, something it insists it doesn’t want to do. Iran now has enough enriched uranium to make a bomb, but nowhere near the amount it had before the nuclear deal was signed.

In the latest announced violation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s civilian nuclear program, said officials had begun mechanical testing of an IR-9 prototype centrifuge. That centrifuge would enrich uranium 50 times faster than the IR-1s allowed under the accord, he said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

The clock is ticking on trying to get the U.S. back into the deal, with the goal of returning Iran to compliance, with a number of issues to consider.

In late February, Iran began restricting international inspections of its nuclear facilities, but under a last-minute deal worked out during a trip to Tehran by Rafael Grossi, the head of the Vienna-based U.N. atomic watchdog, some access was preserved.

Under the agreement, Iran will no longer share surveillance footage of its nuclear facilities with the IAEA but it has promised to preserve the tapes for three months. It will then hand them over to the IAEA if it is granted sanctions relief. Otherwise, Iran has vowed to erase the recordings, narrowing the window for a diplomatic breakthrough.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in March also urged the U.S. to act quickly, noting that as his country’s June elections approach, Washington will find itself dealing with a government unable to make progress in the nuclear talks.

In addition, one of the JCPOA’s major so-called sunset clauses, a United Nations arms embargo on Iran, expired last year and others are set to expire in the coming years.

Price: ‘Healthy Step Forward’ Despite Long Road Ahead

The small window for negotiation will make it even more difficult for the U.S. to try to bring new concerns into the deal, such as Iran’s regional influence and its ballistic missile program.

As the diplomats met, a U.S. delegation headed by the administration’s special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley was due in the Austrian capital. State Department spokesman Ned Price said talks will be structured around the working groups that the Europeans will form with the other parties to the accord.

Price said Monday the talks are a “healthy step forward” but added that “we don’t anticipate an early or immediate breakthrough, as these discussions, we fully expect, will be difficult.”

“We don’t anticipate at present that there will be direct talks with Iran,” he said. “Though of course we remain open to them. And so we’ll have to see how things go.”

Zarif on Friday reiterated Iran’s position that no additional talks on the JCPOA are needed, since the deal and its parameters have already been negotiated.

“No Iran-US meeting. Unnecessary,” he tweeted.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Man Found Dead in Fresno’s Roeding Park Identified as Bay Area Resident

DON'T MISS

Fresno Authorities Search for Domestic Violence Suspect Considered Armed and Dangerous

DON'T MISS

NBA Memo to Players Warns About Organized Home Break-Ins

DON'T MISS

Fresno School Employees Say District’s Job Shifts Endanger Kids and Staff

DON'T MISS

Assemblymember Arambula Says He’ll Run for Fresno City Council

DON'T MISS

Business, Environmental Interests Oppose South Fresno Industrial Plan. What’s Next?

DON'T MISS

Take a Bow, Bulldog Football Fans. Some Power 4 Schools Would Love to Have You.

DON'T MISS

Community Hospital CEO Craig Castro Will Retire in Early 2025

DON'T MISS

Conor McGregor Must Pay Woman $250K in Sexual Assault Case, Civil Jury Rules

DON'T MISS

Judge Delays Trump Hush Money Sentencing in Order to Decide Where Case Should Go Now

UP NEXT

Many in Gaza Are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads Amid Aid Issues

UP NEXT

Norwegian Student Arrested on Charges of Spying on US for Russia

UP NEXT

A Proposed Deal on Climate Cash at UN Summit Highlights Split Between Rich and Poor Nations

UP NEXT

North Korean Leader Says Past Diplomacy Only Confirmed US Hostility

UP NEXT

Putin Says Russia Has Tested a New Intermediate Range Missile in a Strike on Ukraine

UP NEXT

Pope to Make Late Italian Teenager Carlo Acutis the First Millennial Saint on April 27

UP NEXT

US Vetoes UN Ceasefire Resolution in Gaza Conflict

UP NEXT

Israeli Officials Demand the Right to Strike Hezbollah Under Any Cease-Fire Deal for Lebanon

UP NEXT

Spain Will Legalize Hundreds of Thousands of Undocumented Migrants in the Next 3 Years

UP NEXT

TSMC Walks a Geopolitical Tightrope

Fresno School Employees Say District’s Job Shifts Endanger Kids and Staff

1 hour ago

Assemblymember Arambula Says He’ll Run for Fresno City Council

2 hours ago

Business, Environmental Interests Oppose South Fresno Industrial Plan. What’s Next?

2 hours ago

Take a Bow, Bulldog Football Fans. Some Power 4 Schools Would Love to Have You.

3 hours ago

Community Hospital CEO Craig Castro Will Retire in Early 2025

4 hours ago

Conor McGregor Must Pay Woman $250K in Sexual Assault Case, Civil Jury Rules

4 hours ago

Judge Delays Trump Hush Money Sentencing in Order to Decide Where Case Should Go Now

4 hours ago

Trump Gave Interior Nominee One Directive for a Half-Billion Acres of US Land: ‘Drill’

4 hours ago

Fresno State Gets $500K Grant for Students Facing Homelessness

4 hours ago

NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks After Russia’s Attack With New Hypersonic Missile

4 hours ago

Man Found Dead in Fresno’s Roeding Park Identified as Bay Area Resident

A man found dead Thursday afternoon in Fresno’s Roeding Park died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Fresno Police Department said in ...

52 minutes ago

Solomone Toki, 44, of the Bay Area, was found dead in Fresno’s Roeding Park died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. (Fresno PD)
52 minutes ago

Man Found Dead in Fresno’s Roeding Park Identified as Bay Area Resident

Fresno County authorities are searching for Ray Weston McCall Jr., 43, wanted on domestic violence charges, and caution the public not to approach him. (Fresno County SO)
1 hour ago

Fresno Authorities Search for Domestic Violence Suspect Considered Armed and Dangerous

1 hour ago

NBA Memo to Players Warns About Organized Home Break-Ins

1 hour ago

Fresno School Employees Say District’s Job Shifts Endanger Kids and Staff

2 hours ago

Assemblymember Arambula Says He’ll Run for Fresno City Council

2 hours ago

Business, Environmental Interests Oppose South Fresno Industrial Plan. What’s Next?

3 hours ago

Take a Bow, Bulldog Football Fans. Some Power 4 Schools Would Love to Have You.

4 hours ago

Community Hospital CEO Craig Castro Will Retire in Early 2025

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend