An attempt to revive nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran in Qatar fell apart Wednesday after two days of negotiations, Reuters reported.
European Union officials blamed the negotiations’ failure on Iran’s insistence that the U.S. drop its designation of the country’s main security force as a foreign terrorist organization, according to Reuters. Iranian officials, however, claimed the U.S. version of the deal “excludes any guarantees for Iran’s economic benefit,” Iranian state-affiliated Tasnim News reported.
“We are disappointed that Iran has, yet again, failed to respond positively to the EU’s initiative and therefore that no progress was made,” a state department spokesperson told Reuters. (RELATED: Biden Administration Issues New Sanctions On Iran As Nuclear Deal Prospects Plummet)
Two intense days of proximity talks in Doha on #JCPOA. Unfortunately, not yet the progress the EU team as coordinator had hoped-for. We will keep working with even greater urgency to bring back on track a key deal for non-proliferation and regional stability @JosepBorrellF pic.twitter.com/eA1Wluif01
— Enrique Mora (@enriquemora_) June 29, 2022
Iranian officials refuse to speak directly with the U.S., so an EU envoy relayed communications between U.S. Special Envoy to Iran Rob Malley and his Iranian counterpart.
However, Iranian officials came away with a positive assessment of the progress made, according to Tasnim News. The Qatari diplomat mediating the negotiations also indicated willingness to continue hosting negotiations.
The U.S. had remained silent after Tehran and the EU intimated last week that another attempt at resurrecting the 2015 nuclear agreement could be made “in the coming days,” Reuters reported EU foreign policy minister Josep Borrell as saying on June 25. Progress stalled in the spring of 2022 over UN and U.S. officials’ allegations of Iran’s refusal to cooperate, according to CBS News.
After my consultations in Tehran, my team is as of today in Doha to coordinate and facilitate indirect exchanges between US and Iranian negotiators.
The goal of the proximity talks is to advance work to return to a fully operational and implemented #JCPOA.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) June 28, 2022
Initial attempts at reentering the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran after former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal formally started in April 2021, CBS News reported.
Iran ratcheted up uranium enrichment and removed surveillance cameras used by the UN to monitor activity at Iran’s nuclear sites in June, actions the UN’s top nuclear official called a “death blow” to future negotiations.
The State Department did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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