Against the background of the report that Iranian and European diplomats recently met in Oslo, in an attempt to revive the nuclear agreement, Russia’s envoy to the nuclear negotiations, Mikhail Ulyanov, stated that “the negotiations are at an impasse, but the partners in the West refuse to declare the end of the process.” In an interview he conducted with the Russian newspaper “Izvestia” he emphasized that “it seems that the chance of completing the agreement still exists, although it is very small.”
Ulyanov also referred to the interim plan of Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying that “this plan is the result of long and comprehensive negotiations in Vienna, with the participation of Russia, Iran, China, Great Britain, France, Germany, the United States and the European Union, which acted in a coordinated manner. In the meantime, representatives in the Russian delegation for negotiations in Vienna said that “officially, the draft agreement for the gradual return to negotiations with Iran, and the lifting of American sanctions against the Islamic Republic is still on the table.”
The emergency meeting between Iran and the powers regarding the nuclear deal (Photo: Reuters)
At the same time, despite the normalization of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Joseph Burrell, the EU’s high commissioner for foreign affairs, said that the renewal of relations positively affects the 2015 nuclear agreement, but the agreement has its own mechanism. This, after Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Gulf criticized the agreement, and that it does not address Iranian influence in the region.
As you may recall, Iranian and European diplomats recently met in Oslo, Norway, in an attempt to revive the nuclear agreement, which was canceled by former US President Donald Trump in 2015, according to a report in Iran. It was also reported that a senior official in Tehran said that the meetings were attended by the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and officials From the Foreign Offices of England, France and Germany.
Raphael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (Photo: Reuters)
Enrique Mora, one of the European Union’s foreign policy chiefs, was also present at the meetings. However, the US special envoy for Iranian affairs was not present at the meetings. “It was supposed to be a brainstorming session. More positive messages are needed to show that diplomacy is working,” noted a senior Iranian source, who emphasized that there are still several obstacles on the issue. Another political source described the talks as “confidential discussions.”
It was also reported that there is a possibility of the execution of a prisoner deal between the United States and Iran. If such a deal goes through, the one who is expected to be released from the Iranian prison is Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American citizen. Namazi has been imprisoned in Iran since 2015, and when his father arrived in the country to work for his release, he was also arrested, and he was banned from leaving Iran for six years.