Diplomats from the U.S., Europe and Iran are set to return to Vienna after months of deadlock for another attempt to save their moribund nuclear deal, as high energy prices continue to stalk the global economy.
Robert Malley, the United States' special envoy for Iran, said in a tweet that he’s headed to the Austrian capital to discuss a European Union proposal to rescue the landmark 2015 agreement. The accord slowly collapsed after then-President Donald Trump withdrew four years ago and reimposed sanctions on the Iranian economy, prompting Tehran to ramp up its enrichment of uranium.
The EU’s chief nuclear negotiator, Enrique Mora, and his Iranian counterpart, Ali Bagheri Kani, said that they would also rejoin the talks.
The 2015 deal curbed Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from sweeping economic penalties. Reviving the agreement would lift the sanctions imposed by Trump on Iranian oil exports, providing much-needed additional supplies to stretched energy markets.
The parties have failed on several occasions to end a standoff between Tehran and Washington over U.S. sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a Trump-era terrorism designation for the elite military unit.
It’s not yet clear whether Russia and China — which were also were among nations signing on to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the nuclear deal is formally known — will convene in Vienna as well.
“Our expectations are in check,” Malley said in his tweet.
Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, which reflects the views of the country’s political establishment, said that Bagheri Kani’s visit didn’t amount to an automatic endorsement of the latest EU effort to bridge differences. In a tweet, Bagheri said he was heading to Vienna to “advance the negotiations” but added the “onus is on those who breached the deal.”
Last week, the European bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said that he had “put on the table a text” that addresses sanctions removal in “precise detail,” and he urged the sides to make a decision immediately to rescue the pact.
The U.S. side appreciates Borrell’s efforts to push the negotiations forward and is prepared to close a deal if Iran drops demands outside of the original agreement, a State Department official said on Wednesday, adding that expectations for a deal remain low.
