SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Washington does not think talks in Brussels are necessary before the resumption of indirect talks with Iran on a return to the 2015 nuclear deal in Vienna, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday.
Reports in Iranian media on Sunday had suggested a possible meeting in Brussels, but the European Union’s foreign policy guy chief Josep Borrell played down the chance of any talks outside of Vienna earlier on Monday.
“We made it clear to the Iranians that time is not on their side and it’s better to go back to the negotiating table quickly,” Borrell said.
Western diplomats have said they are concerned Tehran’s new negotiating team — under a president known as an anti-Western hardliner rather than a pragmatist like his predecessor — may make demands beyond the scope of what had already been agreed.
Some also fear Iran is seeking to gain time and leverage by talking to the EU, which coordinates the talks, rather than all the parties to the deal — France, Britain, Germany, Russia, China and indirectly the United States.
Iran has long denied any ambition to acquire nuclear weapons and accused the United States of unfair treatment.
The Iranian establishment has so far refused to resume indirect talks with the United States in Vienna on both sides returning to compliance with the deal, under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief.
The deal effectively fell apart after former U.S. President Donald Trump re-imposed sanctions on Iran in 2018 and Tehran resumed building its stockpile of enriched uranium.
