The United States and three European powers agreed on Friday during consultations in Paris on the necessity for Iran to return quickly to nuclear talks, amid increasing concern over delays. U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price stated that the U.S. envoy on Iran, Rob Malley, spoke with his counterparts from Britain, France, and Germany about how to continue diplomacy in "providing the most effective pathway" regarding Iran. Price told reporters in Washington, "We are united in believing that negotiations should resume in Vienna as soon as possible, and specifically pick up where we left off after the sixth round."
Iran and six major powers (the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China, and Germany) reached a deal in 2015 regarding Tehran's nuclear program, allowing the lifting of many sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic in exchange for restricting its nuclear activities and ensuring the peaceful nature of its program. However, the agreement's effectiveness diminished after the United States unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018 under former President Donald Trump, who reinstated harsh sanctions on Tehran.
About a year after the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement, Iran gradually began to roll back most of its key obligations under it. The parties that remain in the agreement, with indirect U.S. participation, began talks in Vienna this year in an attempt to revive the deal after newly elected President Joe Biden expressed willingness to return his country to it. The involved parties conducted six rounds of talks between April and June, without setting a new date for their resumption.
Rob Malley is visiting Paris after a Gulf tour that took him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The French Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that the talks will take place at a "critical stage" while France and other countries remain ready to resume the Vienna negotiations. The statement continued, "In the meantime, it is urgent and essential that Iran stop its dangerously unprecedented violations of the nuclear agreement," urging Iran to resume full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency "without delay."
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi expressed concern on Tuesday about his inability to meet senior Iranian officials, contrary to what was stipulated in an agreement reached on September 12 between the agency and the Islamic Republic. On that day, the agency reached a new compromise agreement regarding the monitoring of the Iranian nuclear program, reviving hope for the possibility of resuming the stalled Vienna talks since the election of hardline President Ebrahim Raisi in June.
