EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell visits Iran in order to revive stalled nuclear talks

European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell embarked on his two-day visit to Iran in an attempt to revive the stalled nuclear talks. According to a statement by the EU, the visit is a part of the ongoing efforts to bring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) back to full implementation.

Borrell arrived in Tehran on Friday night with the goal to bring the talks back on track which has been halted because of disagreements between Iran and the United States.

"Diplomacy is the only way to go back to full implementation of the deal and to reverse current tensions," Borrell wrote on Twitter.

During his visit, the EU leader also met Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian on Saturday. "Since I paused the Vienna talks, three months have passed. We need to break the current dynamic of escalation and speed up our work. We need to close the deal now," Borrell said. 

EU-Iran bilateral relations can't develop fully without a working JCPOA: Borrell

Both leaders also agreed on the resumption of negotiations between Iran and the US in the coming days, facilitated by the EU, to solve the last outstanding issues. Borrell further stated that the EU-Iran bilateral relations have enormous potential but without a working JCPOA, the relationship cannot be fully developed. He also raised urgent matters such as the highly disconcerting detention of EU citizens in Iran and asked for their release. 

Trump abandoned Iran nuclear deal in 2018

Notably, in 2015, Iran and global powers reached an agreement on the nuclear deal, in which Tehran committed to significantly reduce its uranium enrichment in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions. However, in 2018, then-US President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew from the agreement, prompting a series of attacks and incidents across the Middle East.

What is the JCPOA nuclear deal?

The JCPOA deal on the Iranian nuclear program reached Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1 together with the European Union. The P5+1 refers to the UN Security Council's five permanent members -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; as well as Germany. The JCPOA is an agreement that enables world powers to have core access to Iranian nuclear establishments for inspection purposes in exchange for sanctions relief.

However, the talks on restoring the deal and bringing Iran back into compliance have been stalled since June 2021 after Tel Aviv has incrementally violated the terms of the agreement and widened the cap on its stockpile of uranium and increased activities above 3.67% allowed under JCPOA, House of Commons, UK had said in a statement.

Image: Twitter/@JosepBorrellF