Borrell: Negotiations to revive the JCPOA have reached a deadlock
On Wednesday, September 13, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that negotiations to revive the JCPOA nuclear agreement and for Iran and the United States to return to the agreement have reached a deadlock.
Josep Borrell said: "My fear is that we will now remain in a kind of impasse, given the political situation in the United States and many directions without certainty."
The European Union's foreign policy chief has made extensive efforts over the past 16 months to pave the way for the revival of the JCPOA during indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States.
Following the failure of multilateral talks between Iran and the JCPOA member states and indirect negotiations with the United States to revive the JCPOA, Josep Borrell presented a final proposal in early August to break the deadlock in these negotiations.
Iran and the United States have submitted their responses to this “final” proposal by the EU foreign policy chief. However, in its latest response on September 1, Iran demanded guarantees from the United States to close the safeguards file at the International Atomic Energy Agency. This request by Iran has dampened hopes among the European members of the JCPOA and the United States for the revival of the agreement.
AFP says that with the US congressional elections coming up in November, the Joe Biden administration has a difficult path to reaching an agreement with Iran because it could affect the outcome of the election in the country.
Josep Borrell said that over the past two months the texts proposed by the two sides were "close to each other", but "unfortunately, after the summer, in the latest proposals (not only) they did not converge, they are diverging."
He added: "The latest text proposed by the Iranians did not help because we were almost there (close to an agreement), then new proposals came and the political atmosphere is not always favorable. I'm sorry to say it, but I don't expect any progress in the coming days."
The European parties to the JCPOA, namely Britain, France and Germany, said last week that they have "serious doubts" about Iran's intention to return to the JCPOA.
In response, Iran said that the approach of these three European countries was "unconstructive."
Josep Borrell went on to say that he has no other action to take to break this impasse and move forward.
The EU foreign policy chief stated: "For my part, I have nothing more to offer."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said on Monday that Iran's recent response to the European Union's proposed plan was a step backwards and made the prospect of reaching an agreement in the short term unlikely.
In this regard, a spokesperson for the US State Department said on Tuesday that Washington has provided its response to Iran's latest comments.
Ned Price had stated: "We have presented our views on Iran's latest response and I do not wish to discuss it publicly any further than what has already been said."
Biden administration's desire to "continue negotiations"
In this context, Laura Rosen, a prominent international correspondent in Washington, wrote on Wednesday, quoting a senior US government official, that the United States remains interested in continuing efforts to revive the JCPOA.
“We remain interested in seeing whether we can reach an agreement on a return to mutual compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement. . . In that regard, we are prepared to step back and continue to move forward (in these negotiations),” the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The US State Department spokesperson also called on Iran yesterday to continue negotiations in good faith, setting aside the demands of the "extra-JCPOA".
Source: Radio Farda
