#progress #nuclear #talks #Iran #State #Department
Indirect talks in Qatar’s capital between Iran and the US on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal have concluded “without progress,” a State Department spokesman said late Wednesday.
The Doha talks were an attempt to reignite longstanding European Union-brokered talks over a return to the 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers.
No time limit had previously been announced for the latest negotiations, which took place in a hotel in Doha with Special Envoy Robert Malley at the head of the US delegation.
But on Wednesday night, a US State Department spokesman said the “indirect talks in Doha were complete.”
“While we are very grateful to the EU for its efforts, we are disappointed that Iran has again not responded positively to the EU’s initiative and therefore no progress has been made,” the spokesman for AFP said in an email.
EU coordinator Enrique Mora had previously said the parties were conducting “two intense days of convergence talks” in Doha which “have not yet” yielded the progress the EU team was aiming for.
“We will continue to work with even greater urgency to get an important non-proliferation and regional stability deal back on track,” he said on Twitter earlier in the day, posting a photo of himself meeting with Iran’s chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri.
The comments came after Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said the talks would last just two days.
The parties “exchanged views and suggestions on the remaining issues,” he said.
An EU source told AFP the talks, which are taking place two weeks ahead of US President Joe Biden’s first official visit to the region, were set to last several days.
– ‘Red lines’ –
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had said Iran was “serious” about concluding a deal in Doha but would not cross its “red lines”.
“If the American side has serious intentions and is realistic, an agreement is possible now and in this round of negotiations,” he was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA on Wednesday.
IRNA has previously described the “red lines” as lifting all nuclear deal-related sanctions, creating a mechanism to verify that they have been lifted and ensuring the US does not withdraw from the deal again.
Washington has “made clear our willingness to quickly finalize and implement a mutual return agreement for full compliance,” the US State Department spokesman said after the conclusion of the indirect talks.
“Nonetheless, Iran has continued to raise issues unrelated to the Iran nuclear deal in Doha and appears unwilling to make a fundamental decision on whether to revive or bury the deal,” he said Speaker.
Notably, disagreements between Tehran and Washington included Iran’s call for its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be removed from a US terrorist list.
– “Trump method” –
The arch-rivals have met indirectly – by relaying messages from different sectors of the same hotel – to try to break an impasse in attempts to restart the 2015 deal.
That deal, which lifted sanctions in exchange for Iran’s containment of its nuclear program, was unilaterally abandoned in 2018 by former US President Donald Trump, who re-imposed harsh sanctions.
Iranian officials previously said they hoped for progress in Qatar – but warned Americans to abandon the “Trump method” of negotiations.
“We hope that if the United States abandons the Trump method, God willing, we can reach a positive and acceptable settlement,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori- Jahromi said.
He described the method as “violating international law and previous agreements and disregarding the legal rights of the Iranian people”.
International talks to revive the deal began in Vienna in April 2021 before the process stalled in March.
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