Nuclear deal talks between US, Iran ‘possible': EU

BRUSSELS

A meeting between the US, Iran and other parties of the nuclear deal is “possible,” an EU official said on Friday.

“But there is no date yet,” Peter Stano, the European Commission’s chief spokesperson on foreign affairs, said at a daily news conference.

Stano said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was “working very hard to get JCPOA back on track which includes bringing Iran back to the full compliance and to see how we can bring the US to the table.”

The spokesman also assured that the EU was “prepared to convene informal talks” between the parties of the nuclear deal.

“Intense discussions are on the way with all the participants, including the US,” he added, welcoming signals from President Joe Biden’s administration which “are creating the space to advance with all these diplomatic efforts.”

“Now it’s the time for diplomacy, we are doing it intensively”, the spokesperson said.

On Thursday, Ned Price, a US State Department spokesman, said Washington is open to an invitation from the EU for a meeting with world powers and Iran to discuss a return to the 2015 nuclear accord.

The nuclear agreement – officially Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – was signed in 2015 by Iran, the US, China, Russia, France, the UK, Germany, and the EU.

Under the deal, Tehran was allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67% concentration and in return world powers agreed to drop their economic sanctions against Iran.

However, the US, under former President Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting, Tehran to stop complying with the nuclear deal.

In January, Iran announced a new plan to further increase uranium enrichment as a counter-measure against the sanctions introduced by the Trump’s administration.

Despite the US’ withdrawal move, Germany, France, and the UK have repeatedly underlined their commitment to the deal and urged Tehran to return to full compliance with the agreement.