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WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Thursday said it was ready to hold talks with Iran and other world powers to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, marking the first step in a possible diplomatic deal that could see Washington enter into the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement.
The United States would be prepared to accept an invitation from the European Union’s high representative to attend a meeting of the countries that signed the 2015 nuclear deal – Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran – ” to discuss a diplomatic channel Iran’s nuclear program, “State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
The offer coincided with a Tweeter European Union Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Enrique Mora, who said the nuclear deal was at “a critical juncture” and was ready to invite all participants in the deal to “a meeting informal to discuss the way forward. “
Senior State Department officials told reporters the announcement was not a breakthrough, but simply a first step in a potentially long and arduous diplomatic effort.
“I think we recognize that this is only a very first initial step in saying that we are ready to attend the meeting which would be convened by the EU,” said a senior official in the department of State. “We recognize that this is not in itself a breakthrough, even the first meeting itself may not be a breakthrough,” the official told reporters.
“But it’s a step. As long as we don’t sit down and talk, nothing will happen.
President Joe Biden had pledged during his campaign that he would be prepared to bring the United States back into the nuclear deal if Iran reverted to respecting the deal’s restrictions on its nuclear activities. But since Biden’s inauguration, administration officials had issued cautious statements and had not indicated when talks could begin with Iran.
After several weeks in which neither party seemed ready to take the first diplomatic step, it was the United States on Thursday that showed its willingness to sit down at the negotiating table.
There was no immediate response from Iran after the announcement.
The senior State Department official suggested the ball is now in the Iranians’ court as to whether they will accept the EU’s invitation.
“We will find out, I guess, in the next few days if they are ready to attend a meeting the EU calls. Of course, we hope they will, but we’ll just have to wait and see, ”the official said.
When asked whether the Biden administration had spoken to Iranian officials in the last few weeks leading up to Thursday’s announcement, the senior official declined to respond directly.
“I’m not going to go into some sort of logistics of exactly who we spoke to,” the official said.
Since Biden’s election in November, Iran has flouted the deal’s restrictions on its nuclear program. The Biden administration’s diplomatic green light came amid a threat from Iran to bar UN nuclear surveillance inspectors from accessing nuclear sites starting next week, unless Washington does not lift economic sanctions.
The State Department’s announcement came hours after a joint statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts following Thursday’s talks. In the statement, Blinken said the United States would be “ready to enter into discussions with Iran” on the return of the two countries to compliance with the nuclear deal.
The three European foreign ministers “welcomed the declared intention of the United States to return to diplomacy with Iran as well as the resumption of a confident and in-depth dialogue between E3 and the United States “, according to the press release.
The long statement underlined the effort of the new US president and European partners to present a united front to Iran on the nuclear deal after a bitter transatlantic divide on the issue during the tenure of former President Donald Trump.
Despite strong objections from Europeans, Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions that crippled the Iranian economy and prompted Tehran to ignore the restrictions. on its nuclear activity.
The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China lifted international and US sanctions against Tehran in exchange for strict limits on the program nuclear power in the country.
Thursday’s joint US-EU statement also included a stern warning to Iran not to follow through on a threat to prevent UN atomic agency inspectors from accessing various nuclear sites next week, a crucial pillar of the 2015 nuclear deal. Iran’s parliament passed a law in November setting a February 21 deadline for expelling International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors if the United States did not lift the economic sanctions.
“E3 and the United States are united in underscoring the dangerous nature of a decision to limit IAEA access, and urge Iran to consider the consequences of such serious action, particularly in this period of renewed diplomatic opportunities, “the statement read.
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said Europeans must live up to their own commitments and “demand an end to Trump’s legacy of economic terrorism,” saying Iran’s actions were in response to “violations.” American and European agreement.
“Remove the cause if you fear the effect,” he tweeted shortly after the Western allies released their joint statement. “We will follow ACTION with action.”
Amid Western warnings, IAEA director Rafael Mariano Grossi was due to travel to Tehran on Saturday to try to persuade Iran to hold back. Grossi has planned to meet with Iranian officials “to find a mutually acceptable solution for the IAEA to continue essential verification activities in the country,” agency spokesman Fredrik Dahl said.
As part of the nuclear deal, Iran has agreed to prompt IAEA inspections and monitoring of its nuclear activities.
A European diplomat called the E3-US joint statement “more carrot than stick” as it urged Iran not to follow through on threats to halt IAEA inspections and halt it. uranium enrichment that exceeded the limits set in the 2015 agreement.
According to European diplomats and former US officials, Iran’s threat to ban UN inspectors is part of a series of measures that appear to be aimed at stepping up pressure on Washington to act quickly to enter into the agreement and lift the sanctions that have devastated the Iranian economy.
The Iranian rial lost 80% of its value against the dollar during Trump’s presidency, pushing many Iranians into poverty as the economy contracted sharply. The rial briefly rallied after Biden’s election in November, but the currency is declining again and Iranian leaders are increasingly concerned about securing US sanctions relief.
In violation of the terms of the nuclear deal, Iran has started producing uranium metal, which can be used for nuclear weapons, and is now enriching uranium by up to 20% – which puts it at a technical step up from military grade levels.
Iran says it remains within the parameters of the 2015 deal, arguing that it was the United States that violated the deal by pulling out of the pact in 2018 and reimposing sanctions.
A rocket attack on a US-led coalition base in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Monday that killed a civilian contractor and injured a US service member also threatened to complicate Western diplomatic efforts. The incident echoed previous rocket assaults by Iranian-backed militias on US targets, but the Biden administration said it still did not know who was behind the attack and whether Iran had played a role in the orchestration.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a rare phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday, expressed concern that Iran is not meeting its obligations under the deal and called for a tone more constructive one that would pave the way for diplomacy.
“Now is the time to receive positive signals which build confidence and increase the chances of a diplomatic solution,” said the German leader, according to a reading from Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert.
In another break with the previous administration meant to pave the way for diplomacy, US officials on Thursday withdrew a claim by the Trump administration that all UN sanctions had been reimposed on Iran in September. Other signatories to the agreement did not recognize the Trump administration’s action as valid. Acting US Ambassador to the UN Richard Mills informed the United Nations Security Council of the move in a letter, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Senior State Department officials told reporters that the United States is also lifting additional travel restrictions imposed on Iran’s UN mission in New York by the Trump administration. This step will restore the status quo that existed before the actions of the Trump administration, which had severely restricted the movement of Iranian diplomats in New York.
“Today’s actions return our long-standing position on Iran to the UN and, in our view, will strengthen our ability to work with allies and partners of the Security Council of the UN to deal with Iran’s nuclear program and other destabilizing activities, ”a senior official told reporters. A State Department official told reporters.
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