Iran, E3 nuclear talks to reportedly resume this week

The talks, which are set to take place in Geneva, according to Kyodo News, would coincide with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January. Trump withdrew from the accord during his first administration in 2018.

The planned talks between Iran, the three European nations, and the EU, which is acting as a mediator, will be the country’s first nuclear talks since President Masoud Pezeshkian took office in late July.

At the talks, Iran’s nuclear program and the European nations’ sanctions on Iranian airlines and shipping companies are expected to be discussed, according to the report. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi, a veteran nuclear negotiator of Iran, will lead the country’s team in Geneva.

The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. Former US President Donald Trump illegally pulled out of the deal in 2018 while the current US President, Joe Biden, has signaled that he is ready to resurrect the agreement.

Russia, the UK, Germany, China, the US, and France have been in talks with Iran since April 2021 to reinstate the deal.

The talks to salvage the JCPOA kicked off in the Austrian capital of Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.

The negotiations have been at a standstill since August due to Washington’s insistence on its hard-nosed position of not removing all the sanctions that were slapped on the Islamic Republic by the previous US administration. Iran maintains it is necessary for the other side to offer some guarantees that it will remain committed to any agreement that is reached.