Vienna talks on nuclear deal to resume November 29: US, Iran

Talks aimed at reviving the now-defunct 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which have been stalled since June, will resume on November 29, the US and Iran said Wednesday.

“In a phone call with @enriquemora_ , we agreed to start the negotiations aiming at removal of unlawful & inhumane sanctions on 29 November in Vienna,” Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani said in a tweet, referring to the European Union’s Enrique Mora, who coordinates the talks.

The US and Iran began indirect talks in Vienna in April that sought to bring Washington and Tehran back into compliance with the accord, which the US abandoned in 2018 under former President Donald Trump.

In a phone call with @enriquemora_ , we agreed to start the negotiations aiming at removal of unlawful & inhumane sanctions on 29 November in Vienna.

— علی باقری‌کنی (@Bagheri_Kani) November 3, 2021

The talks have been stalled since the election of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in June.

State Department Spokesman Ned Price said the US believed the talks could be “closed” quickly if the Iranians were “serious.”

“We believe that if the Iranians are serious, we can manage to do that in relatively short order,” Price told reporters during a briefing.

Price added that if the talks were to succeed, they should “start precisely” where they left off in the sixth round.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said last week Tehran wants to start talks from scratch rather than pick up from where they left off.

“We do not want to enter the negotiations from the stalemate of the Vienna talks, but we accept the format formed in the Vienna talks,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

The European Union said EU High Representative Josep Borrell and Mora would chair the meeting.

“Participants will continue the discussions on the prospect of a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides,” an EU statement read.

For his part, Russia’s de-facto spokesperson at the Vienna talks said. This “long-awaited collective decision opens the way to #US #sanctions lifting and return of #Iran to full implementation of nuclear provisions of 2015 deal,” Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s envoy to the International Organizations in Vienna said in a tweet.

BREAKING NEWS! The #ViennaTalks on restoration of #JCPOA will resume on November 29. This long-awaited collective decision opens the way to #US #sanctions lifting and return of #Iran to full implementation of nuclear provisions of 2015 deal.

— Mikhail Ulyanov (@Amb_Ulyanov) November 3, 2021