SULAIMANI (ESTA) — U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that Iran’s plan to enrich uranium to 60% was not helpful as Washington and Tehran hold indirect talks in Vienna on the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and the world powers.
Biden said it was premature to make judgment on the outcome of the talks but that the two sides were still talking, according to Reuters.
The U.S. president was speaking in a joint press conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said on Friday that Iran has started 60% uranium enrichment at its Natanz site.
A fissile purity of 90% is suitable for a nuclear bomb.
European powers Britain, France and Germany told Iran on Wednesday that its decision to enrich uranium at 60% was contrary to efforts to revive Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA).
“Iran’s announcements are particularly regrettable given they come at a time when all JCPoA participants and the United States have started substantive discussions, with the objective of finding a rapid diplomatic solution to revitalize and restore the JCPoA,” the three countries said in a statement.
“Iran’s dangerous recent communication is contrary to the constructive spirit and good faith of these discussions,” it said of the talks, which resume between Iran and global powers in Vienna on Thursday, aimed at salvaging the accord.
The nuclear deal has frayed as Iran has breached its limits on uranium enrichment in a graduated response to the Trump administration reinstating harsh economic sanctions on Tehran.
Iran’s move to enrich uranium to 60% came as Tehran and the world powers have been gathering in Vienna to help Iran and the United States return to the nuclear deal.
The EU is chairing meetings in Vienna of the remaining parties to the deal – Iran, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain.
A second round of talks, which involve discussions in various formats as well as formal meetings of all the remaining parties, started on Thursday.
The aim is a U.S. return to the deal, lifting sanctions that were reimposed after its pullout, and undoing Iranian breaches of its nuclear restrictions, according to Reuters.
Talks will continue “for a few days and then I think the two most relevant delegations will go back home to receive more precise instructions and then, I don’t know when, we will resume,” Reuters cited an EU official as saying.
“We have this [Iranian] decision to go for 60% enrichment. Obviously, this is not making the negotiation easier,” the official said, calling what happened at Natanz “deliberate sabotage”. It is not clear how long the talks will last in total, he added.
