US envoy travels to Vienna to resume nuclear talks with Iran

Rob Malley, the US State Department’s spokesman for talks with Iran, announced on Wednesday that he would travel to Vienna to resume negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program, which have been stuck on important final details for months.

“Our expectations are contained, but the United States welcomes the EU’s efforts and stands ready to try in good faith to reach an agreement,” Malley tweeted.

“It will be clear shortly whether Iran is ready for this,” he said.

Indirect talks between Washington and Tehran, brokered by the European Union, stalled in March over the final details of a resumption of the 2015 nuclear deal.

A draft deal was on the table that would offer Tehran sanctions relief for agreeing to limit its nuclear program, which has steadily progressed and raised fears the country may be close to nuclear weapons capability.

But a final deal, Western officials said, was held up in part by a demand from Tehran that the United States remove the country’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the State Department’s official blacklist of “foreign terrorist organizations” (FTO). .

In May, Malley told Congress that the talks were very likely to fail after President Joe Biden tried last year to revive the 2015 agreement officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPCOA), on which the unilaterally withdrew former President Donald Trump.

He pointed to problematic Iranian demands “which go beyond the scope of the JCPOA”.

With a deal in doubt, Washington has sought to cement ties with Israel and Gulf allies, which are staunchly opposed to Iran developing nuclear weapons.

Biden has repeatedly said the United States would not accept a nuclear-armed Iran.

On Tuesday, White House spokesman John Kirby indicated that the Biden administration was unwilling to drop the IRGC’s terror designation to reach a final deal.

“The President has been very, very clear. The Iranian state is a state sponsor of terrorism,” he told reporters.

“When asked if he would be willing to overturn the IRGC’s FTO appointment as a function of negotiations with Iran on the nuclear deal, the President said no,” Kirby said.

When asked if the IRGC currently conducts or supports terrorist activities, Kirby declined to answer.