Syed Zafar Mehdi
21 June 2023•Update: 21 June 2023
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran’s nuclear negotiator said Wednesday he held a “serious and constructive” meeting with European Union mediator Enrique Mora in Qatar.
In a Twitter post, Ali Bagheri-Kani said he exchanged views with Mora and “discussed a range of issues, including negotiations on sanctions lifting.”
The talks between the two officials came amid a months-long stalemate in talks aimed at the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.
The US unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in May 2018, after which Iran gradually ramped up its nuclear enrichment activities, higher than the limit stipulated in the deal.
Talks to revive the landmark nuclear deal remain stalled since last August amid key disagreements between Tehran and Washington as well as Iran’s dispute with the UN nuclear watchdog.
There had been media reports on Tuesday about the meeting between Bagheri-Kani and Mora in Doha, which coincided with a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to the Qatari capital.
Last week, Bagheri-Kani said he met with diplomats from three European countries in Abu Dhabi to discuss a number of issues, including Iran’s nuclear program.
Bagheri-Kani, who serves as Amir-Abdollahian’s deputy for political affairs, also held talks with senior European diplomats in Oslo last month.
In a Twitter post at the time, Bagheri-Kani said he met with political directors of E3 countries (the UK, Germany and France) and “discussed a range of issues of mutual interest and concern.”
“We spare no opportunity to clarify our views and warn against certain miscalculations. We are determined on advancing our national interests, including through diplomacy,” he tweeted.
In recent months, the engagement between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog has also increased, with Iranian nuclear officials recently saying a dispute on one of the “undeclared sites” had been resolved.
Iran and the United States are also reportedly ironing out the details of a prisoner swap agreement, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi said last week, confirming Muscat’s role in helping the two sides de-escalate tensions.
The efforts to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal got fresh impetus after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier this month said a deal with the West on Iran’s nuclear program was possible if the country’s nuclear industry infrastructure remained untouched.
“There is nothing wrong with the agreement (with the West), but the infrastructure of our nuclear industry should not be touched,” he said in a meeting with the country’s nuclear officials and scientists.
