WASHINGTON – The Biden government said on Thursday it was ready to hold talks with Iran and other world powers to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program, marking a first step in a possible diplomatic deal that could lead Washington to re-enter the nuclear deal. 2015 with Iran.
The United States would be willing to accept the invitation of the High Representative of the European Union to participate in a meeting of the countries signatory to the 2015 nuclear agreement – Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran – “to discuss a diplomatic path for the future Iran’s nuclear program, “State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
The offer coincided with a tweet of the European Union’s Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Enrique Mora, who said that the nuclear agreement is at “a critical moment” and that he is ready to invite all participants in the agreement to “an informal meeting to discuss the way forward follow. “
Senior State Department officials told reporters that the announcement was not an advance, but only a first step in a potentially long and arduous diplomatic effort.
“I think we recognize that this is just the first initial step to say that we are prepared to attend the meeting that would be convened by the EU,” said a senior State Department official. “We recognize that this is not in itself an advance, even the first meeting itself may not be an advance,” the official told reporters.
“But it is a step. Until we sit and talk, nothing will happen. “
President Joe Biden had promised during his campaign that he would be prepared to bring the United States back to the nuclear deal if Iran went back to complying with the deal’s restrictions on its nuclear work. But since Biden’s inauguration, government officials have issued cautious statements and have given no indication of when negotiations with Iran could begin.
After several weeks when neither side seemed ready to make the first diplomatic move, it was the United States on Thursday that signaled its willingness to sit at the negotiating table.
There was no immediate response from Iran after the announcement.
The senior State Department official suggested that the ball was now in the hands of the Iranians, if they would accept the EU’s invitation.
“We will find out, I assume, in the coming days, if they are prepared to attend a meeting that the EU will convene. Of course, our hope is that it will, but we will just have to wait and see, ”said the official.
Asked whether the Biden government had spoken to Iranian officials in the past few weeks before Thursday’s announcement, the official refused to respond directly.
“I will not go into the logistics of exactly who we spoke to,” said the official.
Since Biden’s election in November, Iran has breached the agreement’s restrictions on its nuclear program. The Biden government’s diplomatic green light came amid an Iranian threat to prevent UN nuclear surveillance inspectors from accessing nuclear facilities from next week unless Washington lifted economic sanctions.
The State Department’s announcement came hours after a joint statement by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts after the talks on Thursday. In the statement, Blinken signaled that the United States would be “prepared to engage in discussions with Iran” about the two countries’ return to compliance with the nuclear agreement.
The three European chancellors “welcomed the United States’ declared intention to return to diplomacy with Iran, as well as the resumption of a confident and in-depth dialogue between E3 and the United States,” according to the statement.
The long statement underscored an effort by the new U.S. president and European partners to present a united front to Iran over the nuclear deal after a bitter transatlantic split on the issue during the term of former President Donald Trump.
Despite strong objections from Europeans, Trump pulled the United States out of the nuclear deal, known as JCPOA, in 2018 and imposed economic sanctions that paralyzed Iran’s economy and led Tehran to ignore restrictions on its nuclear activity.
The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China lifted US and international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for strict limits on the country’s nuclear program.
The joint US-Europe statement on Thursday also included a stern warning to Iran not to move ahead with the threat to prevent UN atomic agency inspectors from accessing several nuclear facilities, a crucial pillar of the 2015 nuclear deal The Iranian parliament passed a law in November setting a deadline until February 21 to expel inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency if the United States did not lift economic sanctions.
“E3 and the United States are united in underlining the dangerous nature of a decision to limit access to the IAEA and urge Iran to consider the consequences of such serious action, particularly at this time of renewed diplomatic opportunity,” the statement said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif said that Europeans must fulfill their own commitments and “demand an end to Trump’s legacy of economic terrorism”, arguing that Iran’s actions were in response to US and European “violations” of wake up.
“Remove the cause if you fear the effect,” he tweeted shortly after the Western allies released their joint statement. “We will follow ACTION w / action.”
Amid Western warnings, IAEA director Rafael Mariano Grossi was due to visit Tehran on Saturday to try to persuade Iran to contain itself. Grossi planned to hold discussions with Iranian officials “to find a mutually acceptable solution for the IAEA to continue essential verification activities in the country,” said agency spokesman Fredrik Dahl.
Under the nuclear deal, Iran agreed to conduct instant IAEA inspections and monitor its nuclear work.
A European diplomat described the joint E3-US declaration as “more incentive than punishment” as he urged Iran not to comply with threats to cut IAEA inspections and stop uranium enrichment that exceeded the limits set in the 2015 agreement.
Iran’s threat to bar UN inspectors is one of a series of measures that appear to be aimed at increasing pressure on Washington to act quickly to re-enter the agreement and lift sanctions that have devastated Iran’s economy. according to European diplomats and former American officials.
The Iranian rial lost 80% of its value against the dollar during Trump’s presidency, driving many Iranians into poverty, while the economy contracted sharply. The rally rose briefly after Biden’s election in November, but the currency is now in decline again, and Iranian leaders are increasingly eager to ensure relief from U.S. sanctions.
In violation of the terms of the nuclear deal, Iran has started producing metallic uranium, which can be used for nuclear weapons, and is now enriching uranium by up to 20% – placing it a technical step away from the appropriate weapons levels.
Iran says it remains within the parameters of the 2015 agreement, arguing that it was the U.S. that violated the agreement by withdrawing from the pact in 2018 and reimposing sanctions.
A rocket attack on a US-led coalition base in northern Iraq’s Erbil city on Monday, which killed a contracted civilian and wounded a U.S. military, also threatened to complicate Western diplomatic efforts. The incident carried echoes of previous attacks by Iranian-backed militia rockets against American targets, but the Biden government said it was still unclear who was behind the attack and whether Iran had any role in orchestrating it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a rare phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday, expressed concern about Iran’s failure to comply with its obligations under the agreement and called for a more constructive tone that would pave the way for diplomacy .
“Now is the time for positive signals that create confidence and increase the chances of a diplomatic solution,” said the German leader, according to a reading by Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert.
In another break with the previous government, in order to pave the way for diplomacy, American officials withdrew on Thursday a statement from the Trump administration that all UN sanctions had been reimposed on Iran in September. Other signatories to the agreement did not recognize the Trump administration’s action as valid. The United States’ acting ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Mills, informed the United Nations Security Council in a letter, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Senior State Department officials told reporters that the U.S. was also lifting additional travel restrictions imposed on the Iranian UN mission in New York by the Trump administration. The move will restore the status quo that existed before the Trump administration’s actions, which severely limited the movement of Iranian diplomats in New York.
“Today’s actions restore our longstanding stance towards Iran at the UN and, in our opinion, will strengthen our ability to work with allies and partners on the UN Security Council to deal with Iran’s nuclear program and other destabilizing activities. ”, A senior State Department official told reporters.