VIENNA – The United States today joins talks in Austria’s capital here aimed at salvaging an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, which Washington withdrew from in 2018.
US President Joe Biden has said he is ready to reverse the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump and return to the 2015 agreement, which was supposed to ensure that Tehran never develops a military nuclear programme.
But, Iran is demanding an end to crippling sanctions imposed by Trump and has refused to meet US negotiators at the latest talks, meaning European players will act as intermediaries.
Iran confirmed in January that it is enriching uranium to 20% purity, well beyond the threshold set by the 2015 deal.
Nevertheless, Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group, which monitors conflicts, tweeted that the talks represent “an important marker that both US & Iran are serious about breaking the inertia”.
Since neither side appears willing to make the first step, experts such as Vaez have suggested that the negotiators could make a “gesture-for-gesture” deal to break the deadlock.
‘Much-needed momentum’
The European Union will preside over talks between current members of the 2015 pact – Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia and Britain – to begin today.
The US delegation will meet in a different place, with EU negotiators acting as go-betweens.
Kelsey Davenport, director of the Non-Proliferation Policy at the Arms Control Association think tank, said the format is not ideal, but the EU is well-situated to break the stalemate.
She called for a “bold first step by both sides” that she hopes will inject “much-needed momentum” to the process.
Washington, for example, could unfreeze Iranian funds held in foreign banks to facilitate humanitarian trade, and Tehran could stop enriching uranium beyond the levels agreed in the 2015 accord, she said.
“The problem is all the irreversible things, like the research activities Tehran has undertaken,” said a Vienna-based diplomat.
It is also unclear whether the US administration is willing to lift all of its sanctions, as Iran is demanding.
On the eve of the talks, Rob Malley, the US special envoy on Iran, spoke only of removing “those sanctions that are inconsistent with the deal”.
“If we’re realistic about what both sides have to do... we could get there,” he told US broadcaster PBS.
“But if either side takes a maximalist position and says the other side has to do everything first before it’s going to move one inch, I think it’s hard to see how this succeeds.” – AFP, April 6, 2021
