Iran Reports Meeting Held With European Diplomats
Iran’s nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani met European diplomats last week in Oslo, the official news agency IRNA reported Wednesday without details about the talks.
Iran’s nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani met European diplomats last week in Oslo, the official news agency IRNA reported Wednesday without details about the talks.
Quoting “several well-informed sources” IRNA said Bagheri-Kani, who is also deputy foreign minister met with foreign ministry directors of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, three signatories of the 2015 nuclear accord known as the JCPOA.
An official from the German foreign ministry confirmed Wednesday afternoon that a meeting had taken place, but said the purpose was "to make our positions very clear in the face of the Iranian escalation in many areas. No, there are still no negotiations, not even on the JCPoA."
The three countries are known as the E3 and participated in long but unsuccessful negotiations with Iran in Vienna, together with Russia and China from April 2021 to March 2022. The European Union that has been coordinating the talks continued discussion with Iran in the following months hoping to bring about a deal to revive the JCPOA, abandoned by the United States in 2018.
These attempts reached a deadlock last September followed by US declarations that reviving the JCPOA is no longer on its agenda.
Europe has also adopted a sharply critical position toward the Islamic Republic on its gross violations of human rights by a deadly crackdown on protesters. Several rounds of sanctions by the EU and the UK have been announced against entities and officials involved in violence against civilians and mass arrests.
IRNA quoting a senior official said that Enrique Mora, deputy to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was also present at the meeting. But Amwaj.media, which also reported about the meeting, later quoted a diplomatic source as saying that Mora was not present.
IRNA also said that there is no information about the agenda of the meeting, but quoted a senior Iranian official as saying that the event was supposed to be a “brain storming” session. IRNA quoted another source who said the meeting was “secret”, which the agency said shows there are still obstacles to renewed negotiations.
The report went on to say, “Although such meetings rarely take place in Norway, but this was not the first time this Scandinavian country, which is not an EU member, hosted talks between Iran and Europe.” It added that a similar meeting also took place a few months ago.
IRNA's report is full of positive references to recent Iranian diplomatic efforts. It seems that Iranian government wants to reinforce positive news about its attempts aimed at ending its international isolation.
IRNA also claimed that the are “signs” about a possible release of US citizens held in Iran, a claim recently repeated by Iranian officials and dismissed by Washington.
IRNA’s report seems more as an attempt to reinforce optimist about Iran breaking out of isolation with mentioning a vague deal achieved with the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month when the agency’s chief Rafael Grossi paid a two-day visit to Tehran.
Iran’s economic situation has sharply deteriorated in recent weeks, amid continuing US sanctions, with the national currency falling to historic lows, signaling much higher inflation in the coming months. Tehran seems anxious to make some sort of improvement in its foreign relations and to open the door to more talks with Washington.
Asked by Iran International’s correspondent how he judges US policy on Iran after no diplomatic successes in two years, Price argued that Iran poses “a number of challenges, and we’ve always been clear-eyed that those challenges are difficult – they are complex; they cross into many different realms.”
Price claimed, “when you take a look at each one of those realms, you have seen us work with allies and partners in ways that meaningfully protect our interests and promote our interests.”
However, since President Joe Biden signaled his readiness in 2020 to revive the Obama-era nuclear deal with Iran, known as the JCPOA, the Islamic Republic has dangerously increased the level of its uranium enrichment, first to 20 and then to 60-percent purity starting in early 2021.
It also increased oil shipments to China despite US sanctions and continued its meddling in the Middle East. Tehran has also refused to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and in fact has substantially reduced the UN watchdog’s monitoring capacity at its nuclear installations.
The Biden administration also agreed to hold indirect talks with Iran to revive the JCPOA, with Russia playing a major role until its attack on Ukraine last year. Talks lasting 18 months came to a deadlock in September 2022, as Iran stonewalled while it was shipping kamikaze drones to Russia.
Price also admitted that Iran did not conduct honest negotiations. The “Iranian regime has not been true to its word when it said early on in this administration that it sought a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA. It has consistently proven itself unable or unwilling to do so,” Price said.
“When it comes to Iran’s nuclear program, of course this is one of those core challenges. But I think when you look at where we are now as opposed to where we had been or where the previous administration had been, we are now united with our European allies,” Price said, highlighting the only area of success in two years.
Former President Donald Trump’s unilateral style in foreign policy had annoyed the Europeans, who often just tolerated his moves but were clearly unhappy. But the same cannot be said about US allies in the region, where both Israel and the block led by Saudi Arabia agreed with Trump’s policy of ‘maximum pressure’ against Tehran.
With the latest move by Saudi Arabia to re-establish diplomatic ties with Iran under Chinese guarantees, clearly shows regional allies are not sure about the Biden administration’s ability to handle Iran.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaking to reporters in Ethiopia Wednesday tried to put a positive spin on the development, saying, “anything that can help reduce tensions, avoid conflict, and curb in any way dangerous or destabilizing actions by Iran is a good thing… And to the extent that China facilitated conclusion of this agreement to restore diplomatic relations, that’s a good thing.”
This will be seen by many as an admission that China is able to provide security to Saudi Arabia while the United States has somehow left a void.
As China, Russia and Iran began naval drills in the region less than a week after the Chinese-brokered deal, one administration critic tweeted, “Wondering if we’ll hear from more anonymous US officials saying, ‘ultimately, this a good thing’.”