Aug 3, 2022
Washington – Iran says sending delegation to Vienna to resume nuclear talks
The meeting comes as the IAEA is being denied U.N. help to access Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, which has been occupied by Russia since the early days of the war, and which the watchdog agency says is in an “alarming” state.
“It is urgent,” Grossi said in the latest IAEA report. “I’m continuing my determined efforts to agree and lead a safety, security and safeguards mission to the site as soon as possible.”
The U.S. and Iran will resume indirect talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal in Vienna on Thursday, a U.S. official told Axios.
Why it matters: U.S. officials are concerned the nuclear deal is close to becoming irrelevant, as Iran has taken steps to advance its nuclear program and limit the work of UN inspectors.
- “We are headed back to Vienna with low expectations but are going to make a good faith effort,” the U.S. official said.
The big picture: EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell recently presented a new and updated draft agreement and called on Iran to make a decision on the proposal.
- Borrell wrote in a Financial Times op-ed last week that after 15 months of negotiations, he has concluded that “the space for additional significant compromises has been exhausted.”
- But Borrell added that his draft agreement “represents the best possible deal… decisions need to be taken now… if the deal is rejected, we risk a dangerous nuclear crisis.”
