Negotiations to Return to JCPOA to Resume on November 29 in Vienna

Negotiations between Iran and the P4+1 countries to return to the JCPOA will resume on November 29 (December 8). The European Union’s External Action Service announced this news on Wednesday evening, November 3.

Senior diplomats from China, Russia, France, Britain, and Germany, headed by Josep Borrell, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, will meet with senior Iranian officials on November 29 in Vienna. The subject of these negotiations is the return of Iran and the United States to the JCPOA agreement.

Ali Bagheri Kani, Deputy Political Director of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote on Twitter that in a telephone conversation with Enrique Mora, deputy to Josep Borrell, the date of December 8 was confirmed for resuming Vienna talks.

Ned Price, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, said the United States hopes that Tehran will return to the negotiating table with positive intent and willingness to engage in dialogue.

According to him, Washington still believes that reaching an agreement on returning to the JCPOA along with a bilateral understanding to preserve the agreement is possible.

These talks are a continuation of negotiations that have been held in six rounds since the beginning of this year and were suspended ahead of Iran’s presidential elections in June.

The remaining parties to the JCPOA are trying to bring the United States back to the agreement. The United States, under the presidency of Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018. Iran will also commit that upon America’s return, it will resume implementing all its JCPOA obligations.

In 2019, one year after the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, Tehran halted the gradual implementation of its commitments under the agreement. The purpose of the Vienna negotiations is to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and, in return, lift U.S. sanctions against the country.

Source: DW