EU coordinator Enrique Mora will visit Tehran in an effort to find a solution to a months-long standoff between Tehran and Washington.
Tehran, Iran – The coordinator of European Union talks on the restoration of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers will visit Tehran on Tuesday in an effort to find a solution to a months-long standoff between Tehran and Washington.
Nournews, a media outlet affiliated with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), which is leading the nuclear deal negotiations, confirmed on Saturday the upcoming visit of Enrique Mora, deputy secretary general of the European External Action Service (EEAS).
“Taking into account the role of the EU in the exchange of views between Tehran and Washington, Enrique Mora’s trip to Tehran can be considered as a new step for constructive negotiations on the few but important remaining issues,” he reported. the middle.
However, he stressed that Iran has remained in the negotiations despite “the persistence of hostile approaches by the United States against our country” which he said runs counter to the spirit of constructive negotiations.
Talks to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the deal is formally known, began in April 2021 but stalled for months as Iran and the United States failed to reach an agreement on a series of limited but crucial issues.
Chief among them is whether the United States will lift a “foreign terrorist organization” designation about Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran has also insisted that securing its economic benefits from a revived nuclear deal is on the table, but has not elaborated.
The two sides, since the beginning of this year, have been passing messages through the EU coordinator, as Iran has refused to negotiate directly with the US after the US unilaterally left the agreement in 2018, imposing harsh sanctions.
‘last bullet’
The idea of another visit to Tehran by Mora had been mooted for weeks by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. Blackberry had last visited Tehran at the end of March, later traveling to Washington.
Saturday’s news comes on the heels of a report in the Financial Times newspaper, which quoted Borrell as saying he wanted Mora to visit Tehran, but that Iran “was very reluctant.” Borrell also told the newspaper that he is looking for a “middle path” in a diplomatic push described as “the last bullet.”
The Financial Times also reported that Borrell is considering a scenario in which the designation in the IRGC is lifted but the other parts of the organization would remain under it. But a similar proposal was made to Tehran before, and it has yet to lead to a breakthrough.
Publicly, Iran has continued to maintain that the US must take a “realistic” approach by abandoning its “excessive demands,” after which a deal can be quickly reached.
The US, meanwhile, has said that Iran must provide assurances regarding its regional activities if it wants the “foreign terrorist organization” designation revoked, and has said the issue lies beyond the nuclear deal. Former President Donald Trump imposed the designation as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign after withdrawing from the nuclear deal.
The Biden administration has considered the JCPOA as the best option to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, but has faced resistance to removing the designation from opponents of the nuclear deal.
Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, but has made significant progress in its nuclear activity since the United States withdrew from the JCPOA. If restored, the nuclear deal would significantly limit Iran’s enrichment and stockpiling of nuclear materials in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.