The United States has agreed to participate in the multilateral talks with Iran sponsored by the European Union (EU), with the aim of resuming the terms of the historic nuclear agreement of 2015.
At that moment , Iran promised to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international economic sanctions that weighed on the country.
A framework of understanding that was suspended when the former US president Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and reincorporated the punitive actions against the Islamic Republic.
But the Joe Biden government is now willing to resume the path of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, for its acronym in English).
“The E3 (France, the United Kingdom and Germany ) and the United States have affirmed their common goal of returning Iran to respect full of its commitments to the JCPOA. The Secretary Blinken reiterated that, as President Biden has said, if Iran strictly again fulfills its commitments under the JCPOA, the United States will do the same and is ready to enter into talks with Iran to that end, “says the joint statement that the ministers of European and American Foreign Affairs published on Thursday after a meeting that addressed the subject.
This US gesture comes at a “critical moment” to resolve the conflict, according to the diplomatic representative of the EU, Enrique Mora.
Iran has not formally responded to the proposal, but the first reaction from the Hassan Rouhani government shows the delicate balance to bring the negotiations to fruition.
Iran asks to lift sanctions
His minister Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, suggested in a tweet that the country would only fully comply with the agreement once the US sanctions have been lifted.
“Our corrective measures are a response to US / E3 violations. Eliminate the cause if they fear the effect. We will respond to ACTION with action, “he wrote in his personal account.
Iran has increased pressure on the Biden Executive, threatening to block international inspections of its nuclear facilities if the US does not lift the sanctions.
Since Trump withdrew from the deal, Iran, which claims its nuclear program is peaceful, has resumed or initiated nuclear activities prohibited by its terms. Something that has increased suspicions among the signatories about Tehran’s intentions.
For their part, the US and its European allies ask it to abstain to block the inspections , warning in their statement that such a measure would be “dangerous.”
And they warned about their commitment that Iran “can never develop a weapon nuclear. ”
Thus, the next step to be elucidated seems to be who gives in first to sit at the negotiating table.
Biden, who It has eased travel restrictions on Iranian UN diplomats, says it will lift sanctions when Iran resumes compliance with the agreement, reports Barbara Plett-Usher, a specialist journalist for the BBC. For its part, Iran, demands that they cease now.
What did the agreement establish?
Suspicions that Iran used its nuclear program as a cover to develop a nuclear bomb led the EU, the United States and the UN to impose sanctions on 2010.
In 2015, Iran reached an agreement with six powers – the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and Germany – by which it limited its nuclear activities in exchange for relief from sanctions.
Under the terms of the agreement, Iran agreed to limit its enrichment of uranium and allow international inspectors access to its facilities.
Why was the agreement broken?
Trump abandoned the agreement in May 2018 and reinstated US sanctions.
I wanted a new agreement that would also curb Iran’s ballistic missile program and its involvement in regional conflicts.
Iran refused and, when sanctions came into force, it plunged into economic crisis.
Since sanctions were tightened in 2019, Iran has acted to stop international inspections of its nuclear facilities and has stepped up uranium enrichment, in breach of the agreement.
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