The talks in Vienna to revive the nuclear agreement with Iran, referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), entered “the last stage” at the end of February. Participants then confidently said that only some “small sticking points” remained to be resolved. However, a U.S. official cautioned that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” and that the remaining issues were “extremely difficult”.
The effects of the war
The war in Ukraine commenced on February 24. Despite efforts to place a firewall between the Ukraine war and the Vienna talks, the conflict bled into the conference room: on March 3, the Russian ambassador at the Vienna talks demanded U.S. guarantees that the sanctions imposed on Russia due to the Ukraine conflict would not affect its role under the JCPOA. The Russian diplomat was referring to the JCPOA provisions under which Iran was required to export its excess enriched uranium to Russia, while Russia would help Iran to downgrade its Fordow enrichment plant into an isotope manufacturing centre to be utilised for medicinal purposes.
