JCPOA Revival Negotiations Resume in Vienna

European Union officials announced that negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement JCPOA with its signatories will resume in Vienna. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative to international organizations in Vienna, said “there is a possibility of reaching an agreement”.

After more than five months of suspension, the seventh round of negotiations to revive the nuclear agreement JCPOA with Iran will begin on Monday, December 8 (November 29) with the presence of members of the P4+1 group and the European Union, as well as a delegation from Iran headed by Ali Bagheri Kani, Deputy Foreign Minister, in Vienna. The negotiations were halted in June of this year following the election of Ebrahim Raisi to the presidency.

French news agency reported, citing a European Union diplomat, that negotiations between Iranian representatives and other members of the JCPOA (Germany, France, Britain, Russia, and China) will begin around 2 p.m. Western European time at the “Palais Coburg” hotel in Vienna.

Rob Malley, the United States Special Envoy for Iran, is also participating indirectly in the JCPOA revival negotiations.

The United States unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 during Donald Trump’s presidency and simultaneously imposed extensive sanctions against Iran. Subsequently, Tehran gradually withdrew from the agreement as well.

With Joe Biden coming to power in the United States, negotiations resumed, but these talks were halted in June of this year following Ebrahim Raisi’s election as president.

Iran: Framework and Timeline of Talks to Be Determined

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s senior representative in JCPOA revival negotiations, said on Sunday evening, December 7 (November 28), after meeting with the heads of delegations from China and Russia and Enrique Mora, Deputy to Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy coordinator and representative in the JCPOA negotiations in Vienna, that the “framework and timeline” of these talks will be determined in Monday’s negotiations.

Russia: Possibility of Agreement Still Exists

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative to international organizations in Vienna, also announced that before the official start of negotiations, “informal meetings” between participants will first be held at the Palais Coburg hotel.

Ulyanov told Russian news agency Sputnik, “The mood and positive willingness is there, the possibility of reaching an agreement still remains”.