US President Joe Biden with Secretary State Antony Blinken on February 4 2018. – Evan Vucci / AP / SIPA
A diplomatic window seems to open. The United States made three gestures against Iran on Thursday, against the backdrop of intensified discussions for a relaunch of the nuclear agreement concluded with Tehran and the approach of an Iranian intention to free itself from new commitments.
After a virtual meeting of French, British, German and American heads of diplomacy , Washington announced accept an invitation from the European Union to talks in Tehran’s presence to relaunch efforts to restore this agreement. “The United States accepts an invitation from the high representative of the European Union to a meeting of the P5 + 1 (a group bringing together the United States, Germany, China, France, United Kingdom and Russia) and from Iran to discuss the best way forward on Iran’s nuclear program, ”State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
Sanctions proclamation canceled
Joe Biden’s administration canceled in the wake of a unilateral proclamation made in September by Donald Trump’s government on a return to international sanctions against Iran. In a letter to the UN Security Council, obtained by AFP, the acting American ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Mills, indicates that the international sanctions “lifted by the resolution 2231 ”of the UN in 2015 and confirming the nuclear agreement concluded the same year with Tehran “remain lifted ”.
The announcement in September by the Trump administration, which decided in 2015 of the withdrawal of the United States from the agreement, had been considered null and void by a large majority of the other members of the Security Council. The State Department finally announced Thursday the easing of restrictions on the travel of Iranian diplomats to the UN in New York.
Warning from Europe
The American-European meeting and the triple gesture Washington came in as the Iranian government plans to restrict IAEA inspectors’ access to non-nuclear facilities from Sunday, including military sites suspected of nuclear activity.
Tehran has threatened to break free from new commitments made under of the agreement of 2015 unless the United States lift its unilateral sanctions imposed since 2015 and which are strangling the Iranian economy. France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States called on Tehran to assess “the consequences of such a serious measure, in particular at this moment of opportunity for a return to diplomacy”. Antony Blinken “recalled that, as President Biden had declared, if Iran returned to strict respect for its commitments (…), the United States would do the same and that they were ready to start discussions with the United States. ‘Iran in order to achieve this,’ their statement clarified.