Iran Nuclear Talks: EU Tries To Revive the Negotiations

Tehran and Washington have been in a months-long standoff over restoring the 2015 nuclear deal. The EU's coordinator for the nuclear deal, Enrique Mora, will visit Tehran on Tuesday to find an end to the problem.

The original nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Iran struck with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States in 2015, was abandoned in 2018 by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

An opportunity for the pact to resume discussions appeared in early March when the European Union, which coordinates the talks, invited ministers to Vienna to conclude the negotiations.

Talks, however, have been thrown into disarray over last-minute Russian demands and whether Washington may remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).

As reported by Vindobona.org, talks were since then in a stalemate. Iran says that the U.S.'s demands are extravagant and cross the limits of the original JCPOA. In addition, Iran claims they want guarantees that the U.S. won't leave the agreement again, as it did in 2018.

As reported by Vindobona.org, since Russia is under Western economic and trade sanctions, because of its invasion of Ukraine, the Russians tried to delay the Vienna negotiations with their demands. The war in Ukraine also caused a temporary stalemate in the JCPOA talks. Russia objected, but even that seemed to be settled after a short time and diplomatic negotiations.

Talks around the JCPOA continue and the EU will send their envoy Enrique Mora to Tehran to save the deal.

European officials have tried to keep the Iran talks alive despite the focus on the conflict in Ukraine by western states since Iran will not engage in direct negotiations with Washington until sanctions are lifted.

Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, has examined a scenario where the designation on the IRGC would be lifted but kept in place on other parts of the organization, which has several arms and sprawling business empires.

Currently, Iranian Revolutionary Guards are designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and some Western countries. The IRGC is often included in terror and security threat lists.

The EU foreign affairs chief wants Mora to visit Tehran to discuss the issue but emphasized Iran's reluctance and the option as a last resort.

A surge in oil prices since Russia invaded Ukraine has emboldened Iran's clerical leaders, who are not in a hurry to revive the 2015 pact to ease sanctions on its energy-dependent economy.

In late March, Mr. Mora traveled to Tehran to resolve the issue over the designation of foreign terrorists but returned empty-handed.

U.S. Sanctions on Iran

The U.S. and its Western allies have imposed tough sanctions on Iran that are hitting the Iranian economy hard.

The United States is also designating Iranian individuals and entities for sanctions, targeting proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery for their involvement in Iran’s ballistic missile-related activities, as reported by Vindobona.org.

The U.S. sanctions Iran, its economy, and its military alike to curb Iran's power aspirations in the Middle East.

Although the Biden administration made a concerted effort to convince Iran to conform to the nuclear deal, indirect negotiations between the two sides had been hindered.

Tehran insists that the Iranian revolutionary guards be removed from the U.S. list of designated foreign terrorist organizations. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards and its infamous Al-Quds Brigade are fighting in foreign countries, across the middle east. Most prominent may be in Syria and Iraq.

Syrian Assad visiting Teheran

For the first time in years, Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad has visited Iran. It is Assad's first visit to Tehran since February 2019.

In Tehran today, he met separately with spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Topics of the discussion were strengthening the strategic and military ties between both countries and Israel targeting Iranian targets in Syria, where Iranian-backed forces, among them Hezbollah from Lebanon, have fought alongside Assad.

Iran is one of the Syrian regime's key allies, along with Russia. Tehran financially supports Assad's government and has sent thousands of "volunteer" fighters to Syria since the war began.

The same sanctioned by the U.S. and other western States, Iranian Revolutionary guards respectively Al-Quds brigade, are fighting in Syria's bloody civil war as volunteers on Assad's side.