TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) – According to state media, the EU’s coordinator for talks to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement met with Iran’s senior negotiator on Sunday in Tehran in an attempt to overcome gaps in the discussions.
Since April 2021, Iran has been in talks with the United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, and Russia directly, as well as the United States indirectly, to resuscitate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Enrique Mora, a European Union diplomat who oversees discussions between Iran and the United States, arrived in Tehran late Saturday and spoke with Iran’s lead negotiator Ali Bagheri on Sunday, according to official news agency IRNA.
“Bagheri emphasised that if the American side is realistic, a deal may be achieved.”
According to IRNA, Mora will meet with other authorities.
Mora tweeted ahead of his travel, “Working on filling the remaining gaps in the #ViennaTalks on the #JCPOA.” “We must bring this negotiation to a close. There is a lot on the line.”
His visit comes as EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell predicted a fresh agreement in “days” on Sunday.
On the margins of the Doha Forum in Qatar, Borrell told reporters, “We are extremely close, but there are still some items remaining.”
“I can’t say when or how, but it’ll be in a few days.”
Parties have been indicating for weeks that they are close to reaching a deal, but that “political choices” from Tehran and Washington are necessary.
The nuclear deal broke apart after the United States unilaterally from the agreement in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump, reimposing severe sanctions on Iran. Tehran replied by withdrawing from most of its 2019 obligations.
One of the biggest difficulties facing a settlement, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, is removing the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) off a US terrorist list.
He added Saturday that senior Guards officials urged the subject be shelved if a solution protected the country’s “national interests.”
Robert Malley, the US special envoy for Iran, stated in Qatar on Sunday that the Guards, Iran’s ideological arm, will continue to face sanctions.
“Under US law, the IRGC will stay sanctioned, and our opinion of the IRGC will remain unchanged,” Malley added.
Iran received much-needed sanctions relief in exchange for nuclear-related restrictions that ensured Tehran would never be able to manufacture a nuclear bomb, something it has consistently denied intending to achieve.
