DUBAI: Indirect talks between Iran and the US over Tehran’s shattered nuclear deal with world powers have ended without a breakthrough, according to a semiofficial Iranian news outlet on Wednesday.
The US State Department and the European Union, which is mediating the discussions in Qatar, did not immediately recognize the conclusion of the talks in Doha.
However, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency, which is considered to be loyal to Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guard, described the meetings as “completed,” with “no effect on breaking the deadlock in the talks.”
During the discussions, US Special Representative Rob Malley communicated with Iranian officials through EU official Enrique Mora. Mora then delivered notes to Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator.
According to Tasnim, the American position does not include “a guarantee for Iran to profit economically from the deal,” citing unnamed “informed sources.”
“Washington is attempting to resurrect the (agreement) in order to constrain Iran without achieving economic success for our country,” according to the Tasnim report.
Iran and world powers agreed to the nuclear deal in 2015, which saw Tehran dramatically reduce its uranium enrichment in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the agreement, escalating tensions throughout the Middle East and precipitating a series of attacks and events.
Since March, talks in Vienna to resurrect the agreement have been on “hold.” Since the failure of the accord, Iran has begun operating advanced centrifuges and quickly increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium.
Iran had previously cautioned the US to shun the “Trump way” after the two sides started indirect discussions to resurrect a nuclear deal that had been derailed by the former US president.
“We expect that if the US abandons the Trump technique, we can establish a beneficial and acceptable accord,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori-Jahromi said.
He defined the “Trump method” as “violation of international law and previous agreements, as well as disrespect for the lawful rights of the Iranian people.”
The indirect talks, in which hostile teams sent messages to each other from different parts of the same hotel, took place barely two weeks before US President Joe Biden makes his first official visit to the region, with Iran high on his agenda.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s Foreign Minister, said the country was open to an agreement in Doha but would not cross any “red lines.”
“We are serious” about reaching an agreement, he added, emphasizing that his country will not back down from its “red lines.”
IRNA previously described the “red lines” as easing all nuclear-related sanctions, developing a system to verify that they have been lifted, and ensuring that the US does not withdraw from the accord.
Source: Arab News
