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Borrell: Iran responds in timely manner, US continues to stalls

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 Aug 2022 19:36

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell affirms that Iran's response to a recent proposal for the nuclear deal is "reasonable".

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell

The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Iran's response to the EU's most recent proposal for a nuclear deal with the US was "reasonable".

"There was a proposal from me as coordinator of the negotiations... and a response from Iran that I considered reasonable. It was transmitted to the United States which has not yet responded formally," he said.

During a university event in the Spanish city of Santander, he hoped the US would respond positively to an EU proposal to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran as soon as this week.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he stated that Iran had provided a "reasonable" response to the proposal, which comes after 16 months of sporadic, indirect US-Iranian talks with the EU acting as a go-between. The proposal's contents have not been made public.

He said, “There was a proposal from me as coordinator of the negotiations saying this is the equilibrium we reached, I don't think we can improve it on one side or the other... and there was a response from Iran that I considered reasonable."

"It was transmitted to the United States which has not yet responded formally... I hope the response will put an end to the negotiations," he added.

Borell also said that a meeting to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal could take place "this week" after Tehran submitted its response to an EU proposal.

In a similar context, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, announced today that "the EU has not yet received a response from the US regarding the JCPOA agreement," highlighting "Washington's responsibility for not reviving the nuclear agreement."

“We are still on the path of negotiations and do not yet accept the details and the next process that has not yet happened,” he stressed.

Talking to reporters in a press briefing today, Kanaani said Iran "will not remain idle toward the US and its delayed response to the EU proposal... The US is responsible for the current conditions of the agreement, and it is the side responsible for not reviving it."

He added that "in the past and latest rounds of negotiations, Iran has held a serious, constructive stance, having responded to the EU's proposals in a timely manner and remained flexible throughout the dialogue process. Washington, on the other hand, procrastinated on our response to the EU proposal, and the Iranian government wants an agreement."

Kanaani stressed that "Iran will not accept attritional negotiations and stresses the necessity of achieving results as soon as possible and reaching an agreement that satisfies all parties," while guaranteeing the interests of the Iranian people.

In 2015, Iran signed the JCPOA with the P5+1 group of countries (the United States, China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom - plus Germany) and the European Union.

It required Iran to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption.

However, in 2018, the US, under Trump, abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hardline policies against Tehran. In April 2021, the parties to the agreement began negotiations to restore the nuclear deal in Vienna.