JEDDAH: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken led crunch talks with European foreign ministers on Saturday aimed at charting a way forward in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
The new talks came amid a three-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers in the northern English city of Liverpool that is expected to result in a joint call for Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions and grasp the opportunity of the continuing negotiations in Vienna.
World powers and Iran resumed those negotiations last week, with the aim of reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the original 2015 deal to restrict Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions. That deal collapsed in 2018 when the US pulled out, and Iran began enriching uranium beyond the limits imposed by the JCPOA.
A European source said negotiators were working from texts discussed five months ago, while Iranian officials said they were sticking to a tough stance from last week.
The indirect US-Iranian talks, in which diplomats from France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China shuttle between them because Tehran refuses direct contact with Washington, aim to get both sides to resume full compliance with the accord.
“Secretary Blinken had a productive meeting with his counterparts from Germany, France and the UK in Liverpool. They discussed the JCPOA talks and our way forward,” the State Department said on Saturday.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi insisted on Saturday that Tehran wanted to revive the deal in the negotiations in the Austrian capital.
“The fact that we presented the text of Iran’s proposal to the negotiating parties shows that we are serious in the talks, and if the other side is also serious about the removal of sanctions, we will achieve a good agreement. We are definitely after a good agreement,” Raisi said.
Iran’s top negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, said Tehran was standing firm on the position it laid out last week, when the talks broke off. “Drafts we proposed last week are being discussed now in meetings with other parties,” he said.
European and US officials accused Iran of making new demands and of reneging on compromises worked out earlier this year.
Iran has also responded to reports that US and Israeli defense chiefs were discussing military exercises to prepare for a worst-case scenario to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails and if their nations’ leaders requested it.
“Providing conditions for military commanders to test Iranian missiles with real targets will cost the aggressors a heavy price,” a senior Iranian military official warned.