Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Fresno City Gets Extension in Herndon 4-Story Apartment Case

2 days ago

With Major Heat Risk Forecast, This Is a Good Weekend to Stay Indoors in Fresno

2 days ago

Trump Says Intel Has Agreed to Deal for US to Take 10% Equity Stake

2 days ago

Epstein Associate Maxwell Says She Never Saw Trump Behave Inappropriately

2 days ago

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

2 days ago

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

2 days ago

FBI Agents Search Ex-Trump Adviser Bolton’s Home, Source Says

2 days ago

Gaza City Officially in Famine, With Hunger Spreading, Says Global Hunger Monitor

2 days ago

Gavin Newsom’s Redistricting Plan Is on Its Way to Voters. What You Need to Know

3 days ago
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

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Why Epstein’s Furious Grip on Washington Holds

DON'T MISS

US Envoy Meets Netanyahu on Lebanon and Syria, Israeli Officials Say

DON'T MISS

Gerry Spence, Renowned for Courtroom Victories and Unique Style, Dead at 96

DON'T MISS

Pentagon Working on Plans for Military Deployment in Chicago, Washington Post Reports

DON'T MISS

Widespread Protests Held in Australia to Support Palestinians

DON'T MISS

VP Vance Says Russia Has Made Significant Concessions Toward Ukraine Peace Deal

DON'T MISS

Israel Strikes Yemeni Capital Sanaa

DON'T MISS

Howard University President to Step Down This Month

DON'T MISS

Hollywood’s Biggest AI Debut? Las Vegas Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’

DON'T MISS

Fresno State Bulldogs Can’t Find Answer for Daniels in Loss at Kansas

UP NEXT

Widespread Protests Held in Australia to Support Palestinians

UP NEXT

VP Vance Says Russia Has Made Significant Concessions Toward Ukraine Peace Deal

UP NEXT

Israel Strikes Yemeni Capital Sanaa

UP NEXT

Turkish First Lady Urges Melania Trump to Speak out on Gaza

UP NEXT

Canada to Remove Many Retaliatory Tariffs on US Goods, Says Source

UP NEXT

Gaza City Officially in Famine, With Hunger Spreading, Says Global Hunger Monitor

UP NEXT

More Americans Applying for Refugee Status in Canada, Data Shows

UP NEXT

US Issues More Iran-Related Sanctions

UP NEXT

Netanyahu Says Israel to Begin Gaza Ceasefire Negotiations to End War, Release Hostages

UP NEXT

Israel Bombards Gaza City Ahead of Planned Offensive

Pentagon Working on Plans for Military Deployment in Chicago, Washington Post Reports

2 hours ago

Widespread Protests Held in Australia to Support Palestinians

2 hours ago

VP Vance Says Russia Has Made Significant Concessions Toward Ukraine Peace Deal

2 hours ago

Israel Strikes Yemeni Capital Sanaa

2 hours ago

Howard University President to Step Down This Month

2 hours ago

Hollywood’s Biggest AI Debut? Las Vegas Sphere’s ‘Wizard of Oz’

2 hours ago

Fresno State Bulldogs Can’t Find Answer for Daniels in Loss at Kansas

15 hours ago

Hegseth Authorizes Troops in DC to Carry Weapons

1 day ago

Texas, Florida Seek to Join Legal Challenge to Abortion Pill

1 day ago

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Released, May Be Detained Again

1 day ago

Why Epstein’s Furious Grip on Washington Holds

Opinion by James Kirchick on August 22, 2025. IT ISN’T JUST MEMBERS OF THE MAGA FAITHFUL WHO ARE FEELING LET DOWN. When the F.B.I. release...

1 hour ago

U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019. New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
1 hour ago

Why Epstein’s Furious Grip on Washington Holds

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack attends an interview with Reuters in Beirut, Lebanon July 22, 2025. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

US Envoy Meets Netanyahu on Lebanon and Syria, Israeli Officials Say

Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos arrives at court with lawyer Gerry Spence. June 28, 1990. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Gerry Spence, Renowned for Courtroom Victories and Unique Style, Dead at 96

The Pentagon building is seen in Arlington, Virginia, U.S, April 6, 2023. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Pentagon Working on Plans for Military Deployment in Chicago, Washington Post Reports

Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in the 'Nationwide March for Palestine' protest in Sydney, Australia, August 24, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
2 hours ago

Widespread Protests Held in Australia to Support Palestinians

Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Sknyliv on the outskirts of Lviv, Ukraine August 21, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

VP Vance Says Russia Has Made Significant Concessions Toward Ukraine Peace Deal

Smoke billows from the site of Israeli air strikes in Sanaa, Yemen August 24, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
2 hours ago

Israel Strikes Yemeni Capital Sanaa

Howard University President Ben Vinson III speaks during an election night event for Vice President Kamala Harris', the Democratic presidential nominee, at Howard University in Washington, on Nov. 5, 2024. Howard University said Friday that its president would leave his job at the end of the month after a tenure that lasted only two years, among the shortest stints in the school’s history. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

Howard University President to Step Down This Month

Search

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

Send this to a friend