Surprised by Iran's rational stance, the E3 (Britain, France and Germany) issued a statement on Friday, expressing concern and frustration after examining Iran's proposed draft.
"Tehran is walking back almost all of the difficult compromises crafted after many months of hard work," they said, referring to the six rounds of talks held with former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's negotiating team before being halted for five months since President Ebrahim Raisi took office.
Iran's top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani said that though European parties believed Iran's proposal was not compatible with their views, Iran's suggestions were based on principles acceptable by other parties and no European party could claim that Iran proposal lacks legal basis.
The new round of talks which is the first for the new administration in Iran was paused as the negotiator adjourned until next week to return to their capitals for take further instructions to see, in words of E3 statement, "to see whether gaps can be closed or not."
Europeans have warned that time was running out, but this could be sufficient to show that the European parties weren't to offer a new draft against Iran's proposal because, firstly, any draft should be based on shared principles and, secondly, putting a new draft on the table was not a good option given the disagreements between the participants to the JCPOA.
To cut it short, the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran managed to take over the discourse in this round of talks and check the other party and leave the European parties with the sole option of accepting Iran's proposal as the basis of the negotiations ahead.
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