US delegation travels to Vienna for indirect talks in Iran Nuclear Energy News

The Biden administration still believes that reviving the nuclear deal is a “viable option,” a State Department spokesman said.

The US will resume indirectly nuclear debates With Iran in Vienna, the State Department has confirmed that the Biden administration has said it is giving diplomacy “another chance” after making little progress in discussions last week.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday that the Biden administration’s special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, and his delegation “will intend to join the talks this weekend.”

European diplomat Enrique Mora confirmed on the same day that negotiations would continue on Thursday. seventh round the talks stopped last Friday.

7th round #JCPOA talks will continue tomorrow, Thursday, in Vienna, after consultations in and between the capitals. There will be a Joint Committee and several bilateral and multilateral contacts.

– Enrique Mora (@enriquemora_) December 8, 2021

U.S. and European officials have questioned Iran’s willingness to revive the treaty, formally known as the Joint Action Plan (JCPOA), following last week’s negotiations with Iran’s first Conservative president. Ibrahim Raisi.

Price said negotiations were suspended on Friday, less than a week after it began, because it was “clear” that Iran had not come with “serious intentions”. But he added that restoring the deal was a “viable option”.

“We continue to believe that a reciprocal return is possible to comply with the JCPOA,” Price said. “That’s why we’re back for the next interviews: the continuation of the seventh round in Vienna.”

He says Iran has submitted it two proposals to revive the agreement “based on the provisions of the 2015 agreement” last week.

Former President Donald Trump left the JCPOA unilaterally in 2018 and “maximum pressure“Iran’s economic sanctions campaign has continued to be carried out by its successor, Joe Biden.

Iranian officials have said they want all sanctions to be lifted immediately, while the US administration is calling for a reciprocal return, ending nuclear-related sanctions and reducing Iran’s nuclear program.

Tehran has stepped up its program in response to Washington’s withdrawal from the treaty.

The Biden administration reported on Tuesday new penalties Against Iran’s two security agencies and various officials linked to them, citing human rights violations.

“Washington does not understand that ‘maximum failure’ and diplomatic progress are mutually exclusive,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh wrote on Twitter, criticizing the new sanctions.

“Duplicating sanctions will have no effect, except for seriousness and goodwill.”

On Wednesday, Price said Washington was ready to negotiate a “good faith” return to the agreement and to leave talks after the sixth round in June before the Raisi government took office.

Asked if the US would give Iran another chance to return to the talks in Vienna, the US spokesman said: “We are giving diplomacy – diplomacy to return to mutual fulfillment – another chance because it is in our interest.”