The heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak, Iran.
Diplomats from Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China plan to resume talks in Vienna on Saturday (May 1) to examine the return of the United States to the Iran nuclear deal.
The full name of the Iranian nuclear deal is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Comprehensive Plan for the Iranian Nuclear Agreement.
The United States was not represented at the Vienna meeting. Under the Trump presidency, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Comprehensive Plan of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, while reinstating and expanding sanctions on Iran to force Tehran to make more concessions and agree to renew negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program.
President Biden has called for rejoining this negotiation, but the U.S. representative in Vienna is currently only participating in indirect talks with Iran, with diplomats from other world powers acting as intermediaries.
According to people familiar with the negotiations, the Biden administration wants to drop some of the tough sanctions Trump has imposed in exchange for Iran’s return to the nuclear deal and compliance with its terms.
In addition, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi and Russia’s permanent representative to the International Organization in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov also met on Saturday morning (May 1) to discuss new issues in the comprehensive plan for the Iran nuclear deal. The two sides stressed that all parties should maintain close cooperation in the nuclear negotiations.
Ulyanov reiterated his support for the nuclear deal and the position that the United States should lift all sanctions against Iran.
Ulyanov said the parties held informal talks with the U.S. delegation, but Iranian representatives are not prepared to meet with U.S. diplomats.
“The parties concerned held informal consultations today with the US representative in Vienna on the full resumption of the nuclear deal,” Ulyanov tweeted. “The Iranian side is not prepared to meet with U.S. diplomats at this time.”
Ulyanov called on the U.S. to take the first step to facilitate successful negotiations, as it was the U.S. that withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in the first place.
The comprehensive plan of the Iranian nuclear deal commits the United States, the European Union and the United Nations to lift sanctions against Iran if it complies with the agreement’s provisions to effectively limit its nuclear program. The goal of the deal is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
The Vienna talks, which began in early April, aim to revive the nuclear deal signed between Iran and the major powers in 2015 and bring the United States back into the deal in exchange for Tehran’s return to all of its obligations under the Iran nuclear deal, while ensuring that sanctions against Iran are lifted.
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