Reviving the JCPOA or Negotiating About Negotiations
Three months after talks to revive the JCPOA in Vienna came to a standstill, as negotiations had turned into disputes and Europe and America condemned the Islamic Republic in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors, while Iran shut down surveillance cameras in its nuclear facilities, Josep Borrell came to Tehran on behalf of the European Union to mediate.
With the European Union’s mediation, it was decided that Qatar would serve as mediator and host “talks to revive talks on reviving the JCPOA,” but Doha’s heat did not thaw the frozen negotiations, and both sides returned home. Europe and America announced the talks were fruitless, while the Islamic Republic said: We passed the ball to America’s court.
A senior American official told Reuters on Thursday: “After indirect talks between Iran and America in Doha that ended without progress, the chances of reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran have diminished.”
The official, who requested anonymity, added: “The outlook for an agreement after Doha is worse than before Doha, and it will get worse day by day.”
Three European countries—Britain, Germany, and France—also expressed regret on Thursday during a UN Security Council session over the fruitless outcome of indirect talks between Iran and America in Doha, saying: “Iran should set aside demands beyond the JCPOA and sign the agreement sooner.”
Richard M. Mills, the U.S. representative, also said Washington remains committed to mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA “but we can only finalize and implement an agreement when Iran sets aside its additional demands that fall outside the scope of the JCPOA.”
Meanwhile, Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said at the Security Council session that the Islamic Republic’s negotiating team is again ready to hold “constructive” talks to finalize an agreement. He added: “The ball is in the United States’ court, and if Washington shows seriousness in fulfilling its commitments, an agreement is not out of reach.”
Iranian social media users, particularly on Twitter, reacted to these JCPOA developments.
Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, a reformist activist and former official in Mohammad Khatami’s Interior Ministry, wrote on his Twitter account: “The lives of eighty-some million subjects depend on negotiations by someone from our side who does not represent the views of most of us.”
A user named Rashid Davudi, describing himself as a Rouhani supporter, posted photos of Ibrahim Raisi and Vladimir Putin hugging at yesterday’s Caspian Sea countries summit and images of their talks in Moscow at opposite ends of a long table, writing: “Russia’s war with Ukraine began and chances of reviving the JCPOA increased; videos from the Kremlin were released as if they insisted on showing that humiliation took place. Now that Russians are comfortable with no agreement, they’re putting their faces together.”
Source: Voice of America
