Mohammad Marandi, member of the Iranian nuclear negotiating team
Qatar will host indirect nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, a media adviser to the Iranian nuclear team was quoted on Monday as saying.
"Iran chose Qatar to host because it is our friend," Mohammad Marandi told the semi-official ISNA news agency. Marandi who was born in the US has been a key media official for the Islamic Republic.
Since a trip by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to Iran over the weekend that ended with an agreement to resume talks in a Persian Gulf country, Qatar was mentioned as the likely venue.
Year-long negotiations in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement known as JCPOA came to an abrupt halt in March. During Borrell’s trip it was agreed that Iran and the United States will resume indirect talks apparently with a new format without the presence of Russia and China, two of the original signatories of the agreement.
It is not clear when exactly negotiations will resume and if the mediator will be the EU foreign policy team or other European diplomats from the United Kingdom, France and Germany will also be present. The E3 were also signatories of JCPOA.
There has so far been little official reaction from Washington to the EU-Iran announcement, but it appears there was coordination between the US and EU before Borrell visited Tehran.