U.S., IRAN EXPECTED TO START INDIRECT NUKE TALKS IN VIENNA

Efforts to bring the United States back into the 2015 deal on Iran’s nuclear program stepped up a gear Tuesday, April 6, 2021, as Iran and the five world powers still in the accord met in Vienna while Washington is due to start indirect talks with Tehran, Geir Moulson and Alex Schuller reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Friday’s announcement about the indirect talks, to be held through intermediaries, was one of the first signs of tangible progress in efforts to return both nations to the terms of the accord, which restricted Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from US and international sanctions.

Then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the accord in 2018, opting for what he called a maximum-pressure campaign of stepped-up US sanctions.

Since then, Iran has been steadily violating the restrictions in the deal, like the amount of enriched uranium that it can stockpile and the purity to which it can enrich it.

Tehran’s moves have been calculated to pressure the other nations in the deal — Russia, China, France, Germany, and Britain — to do more to offset crippling US sanctions reimposed under Trump.

President Joe Biden came into office saying that getting back into the accord and returning Iran’s nuclear program to international restrictions was a priority. But Iran and the US have disagreed over Iran’s demands that sanctions be lifted first.

Senior foreign ministry officials from the countries still in the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), held a European Union-chaired meeting Tuesday in Vienna.

Also due in the Austrian capital is a U.S. delegation headed by the administration’s special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley. State Department spokesman Ned Price said talks will be structured around working groups that the Europeans will form with the other parties to the accord.

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