Exclusive: Europeans Urge Prompt End to JCPOA Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The European parties engaged in the Vienna talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal have called for an immediate end to the current round of negotiations, a source said.
The informed source told Tasnim on Wednesday that the European representatives in Vienna have urged an immediate conclusion of this round of negotiations.
Another source close to the team of Iranian negotiators has informed Tasnim that the Iranian delegation prefers to proceed with the negotiations as long as necessary.
The meeting of a task force on the removal of sanctions was held in Vienna on Tuesday at the level of experts, attended by diplomats from Iran, the P4+1 and the European Union.
The Iranian negotiators have expounded on Tehran’s views in the meeting, proposed new ideas about how to advance the talks, and stressed the need for the effective removal of the sanctions against Tehran.
The Iranian diplomats have reportedly encouraged the other participants in constructive participation in the negotiations.
The representatives of the other countries have also expressed their readiness and seriousness in the task force meeting for interaction on the termination of the sanctions.
Tasnim has learned that the main obstacle in the road to maximum understanding during the Tuesday meeting was the European parties’ insistence that they have to receive comments from the US about every single case.
The Iranian delegation has made it clear in yesterday’s meeting that the Europeans must maintain their independence and bear in mind that the US has willfully deprived itself of presence in the negotiations after its unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and the Group 5+1 and endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
However, then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the nuclear deal in May 2018 and reinstated the anti-Iranian sanctions that had been lifted by the deal.
As the remaining European parties have failed to fulfill their commitments to the accord and compensate for Washington’s absence, Iran moved in May 2019 to scale back its JCPOA commitments.
Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA have held six rounds of talks in Vienna, which began after the US administration of Joe Biden voiced a willingness to rejoin the nuclear agreement, to examine the prospect of the bans’ fresh removal.
Vienna is now hosting the first round of JCPOA negotiations after the new Iranian administration took office in August.