Iran, world powers resume talks on US return to nuclear deal
World powers are set to open a fifth round of talks with Iran aimed at bringing the United States back into the landmark 2015 nuclear deal meant to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining an atomic bomb
May 25, 2021, 2:22 PM
5 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleFILE - In this April 27, 2021 file photo, Director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi in front of a shelter construction which covers the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl,Ukraine. Speaking at a news conference in Vienna Monday, May 24, 2021, Grossi said that Iran has agreed to a one-month extension to the deal on surveillance cameras at nuclear sites. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
VIENNA -- World powers were set to open a fifth round of talks Tuesday with Iran aimed at bringing the United States back into the landmark 2015 nuclear deal meant to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining an atomic bomb.
The talks in Vienna come the day after the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, was able to strike a last-minute agreement with Tehran on a one-month extension to a deal on surveillance cameras at Iran's nuclear sites. The issue wasn't directly related to the ongoing talks on the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, but had Iran not agreed it could have seriously complicated the discussions.
The U.S. is not directly involved in the talks but an American delegation headed by President Joe Biden's special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has also been in the Austrian capital. Representatives from the other powers involved — Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China — have been shuttling between the U.S. and the Iranians to facilitate indirect talks.
As he headed back to Vienna for the resumption of talks, Malley tweeted that the latest round had been “constructive and saw meaningful progress.”
“But much work still needs to be done,” he wrote. “On our way to Vienna for a fifth round where we hope we can further advance toward a mutual return to compliance.”
Russia's delegate, Mikhail Ulyanov, who has consistently been the most optimistic about the possibility of an agreement, suggested a resolution was in sight.
“I think it can be final," he tweeted about the fifth round. “But in order to be on the safe side I would prefer to say: let's see.”
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the agreement saying that it was not broad enough and needed to be renegotiated. As part of a “maximum pressure” campaign, he reimposed sanctions and added additional ones on Iran in an effort to bring Tehran back to the table.
Iran's economy was crippled by the move but it has refused new talks, instead retaliating by slowly and steadily breaking the restrictions of the JCPOA in an effort to pressure the other parties involved, thus far unsuccessfully, to come up with incentives to offset the American sanctions.
Biden, who was vice president when the original deal was negotiated, has said he wants the U.S. to rejoin but that Iran has to return to complete compliance. Iran has insisted that all American sanctions imposed under Trump be dropped, including measures that were taken in response to non-nuclear issues.
Iran's violations include a significant increase in the purity and quantity of uranium it has been enriching, effectively reducing the so-called break out time to produce an atomic bomb, even though that is something Iran says it does not want to do, insisting that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.
On Monday, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s civilian program, said Tehran had stockpiled 5 tons of uranium enriched up to 5% purity, 90 kilograms (198 pounds) enriched up to 20% and 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) up to 60% — still below weapons-grade levels of 90% purity.
Though the West fears it could be used to help Tehran potentially obtain an atomic bomb, U.S. intelligence agencies have said they “assess that Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities ... necessary to produce a nuclear device.”
Despite Iran's violations of the JCPOA, the other nations involved have stressed that the agreement was still important as it allowed IAEA inspectors to continue their surveillance of Iran's nuclear facilities.
Continuity of that surveillance was threatened, however, until the last-minute agreement negotiated by the IAEA with Iran on Monday.
