Iran Says Time Not Ripe for Talks With Biden, European Powers

Iran’s foreign ministry said it wasn’t the right time for direct talks with the Biden administration and European powers to find a way to end the stalemate over the 2015 nuclear deal abandoned by Donald Trump. “Considering US/E3 positions & actions, time isn’t ripe for the proposed informal meeting,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a tweet. The U.S. “can’t continue to uphold the maximum pressure policy and sanctions... and sit at the table anew,” Khatibzadeh said in a press briefing in Tehran Monday. “The new U.S. administration’s refusal to return to the deal is a historic mistake,” Khatibzadeh said, saying Tehran would continue to work with the U.N. nuclear watchdog despite scaling back cooperation.

Iran said on Monday the United States should lift sanctions first if it wants to hold talks with Tehran to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that former President Donald Trump abandoned.

U.S. President Joe Biden has offered to participate in talks between Iran and major powers to revive the accord, but the two sides remain at odds over who should act first. As a starting point, Iran wants the U.S. to lift sanctions that Trump re-imposed, stifling oil exports and hurting the economy. Biden wants the Islamic Republic to first resume its compliance with the multilateral agreement that seeks to curb its nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested last month that European Union foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell “choreograph the actions that are needed to be taken by the U.S. and the actions needed to be taken by Iran.” Zarif’s comments had raised the prospect that the two sides could take synchronized steps to return to the deal. Informal talks had been expected to take place this month.

Raising the barrier to diplomacy, Iran has restricted snap international inspections of its nuclear sites, providing access only for an additional three-month period under an arrangement with the global atomic watchdog announced Sunday.

Washington said on Sunday it was disappointed by Tehran’s refusal to hold talks but was ready to “re-engage in meaningful diplomacy” and would consult with major powers. While Iran has been demanding the lifting of U.S. sanctions first, Washington says Tehran must return to compliance with the deal, which Iran has been progressively breaching since 2019.

Iran’s foreign minister urged the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) 35-nation Board of Governors not to “create a mess” by endorse a U.S.-led push to adopt a resolution against Tehran’s decision to scale back its cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog. “Europeans, with the backing of the United States, have initiated a wrong path in the IAEA’s board ... we believe this move will lead to a mess,” Iranian media quoted Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying on Monday. “We have solutions for all scenarios.”

In a position paper seen by Reuters and sent to other IAEA member states before the board’s quarterly meeting this week, Tehran threatens to end a deal struck with the IAEA a week ago temporarily maintaining some monitoring of its activities. However, diplomats said it was unclear whether the board would adopt a resolution

Britain, France and Germany are pressing ahead with a U.S.-backed plan for a resolution by the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s board criticizing Iran for curbing cooperation with the agency, despite Russian and Iranian warnings of serious consequences.

The latest breach was to scale back cooperation with the IAEA last week, ending extra inspection and monitoring measures introduced by the deal, including the power given to the IAEA to carry out snap inspections at facilities not declared by Iran.

The three European powers, all parties to the 2015 deal, circulated a draft resolution for the Vienna meeting voicing “serious concern” at Iran’s reduced cooperation and urging Iran to reverse its steps. The draft, sent to IAEA board members and obtained by Reuters, also expresses “deep concern” at Iran’s failure to explain uranium particles found at three old sites, including two that the IAEA first reported on last week.

“Adoption of the resolution will not help the political process of returning to the normal comprehensive implementation of the JCPOA,” Russia’s note to member states said. “On the contrary it will hugely complicate those efforts undermining the prospects for the restoration of the JCPOA and for normal cooperation between Iran and the Agency.” Asked about the tussle, IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said he did not want anything to jeopardize his inspectors’ work in the Islamic Republic. “What I hope is that the work of the agency will be preserved. This is essential,” he told a news conference, before taking an apparent swipe at Iran over its threat. “The inspection work of the IAEA should not be put in the middle of a negotiating table as a bargaining chip.” - Bloomberg, Reuters