BRUSSELS: The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday Iran’s top diplomat had assured him at their first meeting that Tehran was ready to restart talks on the nuclear deal soon.
EU-mediated negotiations began in Vienna in April aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers — an accord left hanging by a thread after former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and ramped up sanctions. The discussions, which involve the remaining parties seeking to persuade Washington to rejoin the deal and Iran to return to its nuclear commitments, have been stalled since June, when ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was elected as Iran’s president.
An EU statement said Borrell “underlined once again the great importance of a quick resumption of the Vienna talks” at a meeting on Tuesday with Iran’s new top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
“The Iranian Foreign Minister assured of the willingness to resume negotiations at an early date,” the statement said.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said he expected a resumption of the talks “in the coming weeks”, without giving an exact date.
The 2015 nuclear agreement offered Iran a reduction of UN sanctions in return for strict limits on its nuclear programme.
Earlier, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi told the annual UN General Assembly on Tuesday that Tehran wants to resume nuclear talks with world powers that would lead to removal of US sanctions. “The Islamic Republic considers the useful talks whose ultimate outcome is the lifting of all oppressive (US) sanctions,” Raisi said in his address.
“The (US) policy of ‘maximum oppression’ is still on. We want nothing more than what is rightfully ours. We demand the implementation of international rules. All parties must stay true to the nuclear deal and the UN Resolution in practice,” he said.
Iran and the US in April started indirect talks. — Agencies
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