June 24 (Reuters) – The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for External Affairs, Josep Borrell, is visiting Iran on Friday to try to convince Tehran to return to the 2015 agreement on the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic.
“Josep Borrell will visit Iran on June 24-25, as part of ongoing efforts to restore full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA, or JCPoA in English, the official name of the 2015- Editor’s note)”, can we read in a press release from the EU.
During this trip, the head of diplomacy of the Twenty-Seven must notably meet the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amirabdollahian.
On the Iranian side, the authorities specified that their main objective remained the easing of economic sanctions, without explicitly citing the agreement.
“Bilateral relations, regional and international issues, as well as the current status of negotiations on the lifting of sanctions will be discussed during this visit, which is part of the ongoing consultations between Iran and the ‘European Union,’ the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Indirect talks aimed at bringing Iran and the United States back into the 2015 deal were launched last year in Vienna.
An agreement seemed imminent last March after several months of difficult negotiations, but several disputes – notably around the question of the possible removal of the body of the Revolutionary Guards from the American “black list” of terrorist organizations – have once again derailed the discussions.
Signed in 2015 by Iran and the “P5+1” (the five members of the UN Security Council – United States, Russia, China, France and Great Britain – and Germany), this agreement provided limitations on the Iranian nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran.
It was denounced by former US President Donald Trump in 2018 and in the wake of the US withdrawal and the reinstatement of its sanctions, Iran has gradually freed itself from the obligations set for its nuclear program.
(Edited by Mark Heinrich and William Maclean; French version Myriam Rivet, edited by Bertrand Boucey)