By Nawab Khan BRUSSELS, June 28 (KUNA) -- The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiations, or the Iran nuclear deal talks, are not moving from Austrian capital Vienna, a European Union spokesperson clarified Tuesday.
"What is going on in Qatar right now are indirect talks between Iran and the US facilitated by the EU. This was something EU High Representative already announced during his visit to Tehran last Saturday where he said we managed to unblock the process and we are going to move forward," lead EU spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, Peter Stano, told a news conference in Brussels today.
"And as a first step in this stage we have this proximity talks which means indirect talks between on Iran and the US on finding the way on how to move forward so that the US could eventually join the JCPOA," he said.
But the discussions on the JCPOA among participants as coordinated by EU High Representative Josep Borrell are still scheduled for Vienna, he stressed.
"Today we have the talks starting in Doha under the facilitation of High Representative Borrell who is represented by his chief negotiator of the Iran nuclear talks Enrique Mora and his team. They are in Doha and conducting these proximity talks between Iran and the US, said Stano.
Asked by the Kuwait news agency KUNA when the Vienna talks are expected to resume, he replied that "we always say that time is not on our side so we should move forward very quickly." "But again it is not up to the EU or High Representative Borrell to determine the tempo because everything depends on the willingness of the participants to find the necessary way forward on the final arrangement," he said.
"So we would wish it to proceed as fast as possible but let's take it step-by-step as we always do in diplomacy. So let us see what will be the outcome of the proximity talks in Doha and then we hope it will be possible for the participants to gather very quickly for the continuation of talks in Vienna," added the EU spokesperson.
Former US President Donald Trump re-imposed financial and economic sanctions on Tehran after his withdrawal in 2018 from the Iran nuclear deal talks, which was agreed by Iran and major powers in 2015. The talks began in Vienna, Austria, in April 2021, with the participation of the remaining parties, France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China, as well as the European Union who is acting as the coordinator.
The negotiations in Vienna were paused in March due to outstanding differences. (end) nk.rk