JCPOA resumes in Vienna, New EU proposal may seal the deal
After the Iran nuclear talks have resumed in Vienna, the EU has submitted a new proposal in order to reach an agreement with Iran regarding the deal, and now the parties must reconvene for a final decision.
-
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell (eeas.europa.eu)
Following the most recent Vienna talks, an Iranian official said Iran was ready to consider Europe's new proposal on the nuclear deal if its demands on sanctions and other issues are considered, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Friday.
New EU proposal
The European Union had made a proposal with significant concessions to Iran on the revival of the nuclear deal. According to the Iranian official, the EU's proposal will be accepted by Tehran if the 27-nation bloc provides it with confidence in various issues entailing political claims related to safeguards, sanctions, and guarantees for the sustainability of the agreement.
On August 4th, the negotiation process to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran resumed in the Austrian capital of Vienna, where the heads of all delegations were supposed to arrive for a possible meeting of the JCPOA. EU foreign policy Chief Josep Borrell said a few days earlier that a restructured text of the JCPOA had been finalized and is now waiting on the participants to make political decisions to seal the deal.
Multiple talks, no agreements
The United Kingdom, Russia, China, Germany, the United States, France, the European Union, and Iran signed the JCPOA in 2015, enforcing restrictions on the advancement of the Iranian nuclear deal in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and reenacted sanctions, prompting Iranian authorities to respond by gradually abandoning their own commitments under the deal, specifically on nuclear research, centrifuges, and the level of uranium enrichment.
Both countries expressed interest in resuming talks on the JCPOA after President Joe Biden succeeded Trump at the White House. In December of last year, the parties agreed on two drafts of the new deal, but to no avail, as no definitive agreement was reached. Since then, the parties had multiple rounds of talks on reviving the deal.
