The eighth round of the Joint Commission meetings of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) carried on with consultations between Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and the European Union’s representative in the Vienna talks Enrique Mora at Palais Coburg on Thursday.
Bagheri Kani also held talks with heads of delegations from three European countries (Britain, France and Germany).
Simultaneously, there were some sessions at expertise level in Vienna, where experts from Iran, the European Union and the P4+1 group (Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany) discussed sanctions and nuclear issues.
On Wednesday, negotiating teams kicked off consultations on draft text in the morning, which lasted until 2 a.m. Thursday.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, wrote on his Twitter account Thursday night: “#JCPOA participants (without #Iran) and the US met this evening to exchange views regarding current, apparently final stage of the #ViennaTalks on #JCPOA.”
The Western delegations have not suggested any proposal to resolve dispute on implementation of the JCPOA and sanctions relief; so, the Iranian authorities have criticized the West’s inaction and passiveness in this respect. However, following the progress achieved in the Vienna talks on Iran’s proposals, some Western media outlets propagate that the US and Europe submitted a package to Iranians.
Putting forward suggestions is very common when it comes to negotiations; so, proposing a new idea cannot be considered as a special advantage for one of negotiating parties.
Despite the fact that negotiating teams in the Vienna talks acknowledged that the United States should be held accountable for the current situation of the implementation of the nuclear deal, the Western sides try to put the blame on Iran’s shoulder.
The US has highlighted a recent sanctions relief by the Biden administration to put pressure on the Islamic Republic to accept any proposed consensus in the Vienna talks.
But as Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, underlined, sanctions removal should be inclusive and effective in order to provide the whole Islamic nation with economic profit of the JCPOA.
Amirabdollahian noted that Tehran has sent messages to the Americans by the help of some mediators that the United States should show good faith in practice.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in Tel Aviv that her country contributes to the Vienna talks, because it is convinced that the revival of the JCPOA will make the region more secure.
Wang Qun, permanent representative of China to the United Nations in Vienna, opined that the negotiations have moved forward and the negotiating teams are trying hard to reach final agreement.
The eighth round of the Vienna talks kicked off on December 27, 2021. This round of negotiations is one of the longest phases of the talks and most delegations agreed that the consultations have been moving forward in spite of some challenges.
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