US-Iran chief negotiators begin nuclear talks in Qatar

The chief negotiators of the United States and Iran were scheduled to hold indirect talks in Qatar on Tuesday, trying to overcome obstacles that have blocked attempts to revive a nuclear deal.

US Special Envoy Robert Malley and Iran’s Ali Bagheri traveled to Doha after more than a year of European Union-brokered talks in Vienna over a return to the 2015 deal.

The talks in the Qatari capital are the start of a process to “unblock” the Vienna talks, European Union foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano said, adding that they would start on Tuesday.

“We managed to unblock the process and we will move forward and as a first step in this phase we are having these approximation talks,” he said in Brussels.

“That means indirect talks between Iran and the United States to figure out the way we can move forward.”

The deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions has been hanging by a thread since 2018, when then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally backed away from it and began re-imposing tough economic sanctions on America’s nemesis.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has sought to return to the deal, saying it is the best way forward with the Islamic Republic, despite expressing mounting pessimism in recent weeks.

The talks in Doha will take place indirectly, with delegations sitting in separate rooms and communicating through intermediaries. The US and Iran do not have diplomatic relations.

Earlier, Malley met with Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss “joint diplomatic efforts to resolve issues with Iran,” the US Embassy in Doha tweeted.

Bagheri and his delegation have arrived in Doha, Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reported.

Sheikh Mohammed also discussed the Iran talks with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna in a phone call on Tuesday, Qatar’s official news agency said.

Qatar’s foreign ministry said in a statement it hopes the “indirect talks will yield positive outcomes that will help revive the nuclear deal signed in 2015.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to Tehran on Saturday that the Iran-US talks would be held in a Gulf state to avoid confusion with the broader talks in Vienna.

Qatar, which has better ties with Iran than most Arab Gulf monarchies, has sought a role as a diplomatic hub.

It also hosted talks between the United States and the Taliban prior to the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan last August.

Talks in Vienna began in April last year but collapsed in March after disagreements between Tehran and Washington, notably over Iran’s call for its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be removed from a US terrorist list.

“I always say that time is not really on our side, so we should really move very quickly,” said Stano, looking ahead to the Qatar clashes.

“But again, it’s not up to the European Union or (Borrell) as coordinator to set the pace because it all depends on the willingness of those involved to find the necessary path forward.”