Resuming talks that began last June in Qatar, U.S.-Iran discussions around the nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), are set to resume in Vienna.
China, Russia, France, Germany, and the UK will constitute a joint commission (in keeping with the structure of the negotiations that took place earlier in April 2021). The EU will serve as mediator, represented by Spanish diplomat Enrique Mora.
The resumption of negotiations comes after an escalation of tension between the U.S. and Iran. The Biden administration recently issued new sanctions against the Near Eastern country’s petrochemical exports. Iran, for its part, has suppressed cameras installed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to monitor its nuclear activities, and opened new centrifuges, thereby pressing on with its nuclear program, which it maintains is strictly for civilian, peaceful purposes.
Iran has also referred to the need for extraneous political questions to be kept out of discussions concerning nuclear issues, and it maintains that success in the present talks depends on U.S. flexibility.
