Banished from nations because of the war in Ukraine, Russia has well and truly held the rescue of the Iran nuclear deal hostage. The negotiations were about to end in Vienna, but they were suspended on Friday March 11. In question, the guarantees demanded by Moscow in order to obtain broad exemptions on the massive sanctions taken by the West in response to the invasion decided by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine. On the brink of default due to these reprisals, Russia demands that they do not hinder its economic cooperation with Iran.
The request is judged “unacceptable” by the European negotiators, who carry out the negotiations relaunched in November 2021, in order to allow the United States to reintegrate the compromise called JCPoA (joint comprehensive plan of action) . “We have to pause the talks due to external factors”justified on Friday Josep Borrell, the head of diplomacy of the European Union (EU), which coordinates the process.
Moscow’s demands have been judged ” off topic “ by the head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken. “The new sanctions linked to Russia are absolutely unrelated” with the consent and “should have no impact” on these discussions, added the spokesman for the US State Department. “We have no intention of offering Russia anything new or specific. »
“This is a JCPoA hijacking to get a rollback on the sanctions taken against the Russians”denounces a negotiator, on behalf of the three European capitals – Paris, Berlin, London – signatories of the 2015 agreement, before it was denounced by Donald Trump in 2018. For this diplomat, a blockage at this very stage progress of the negotiation “would be irresponsible of Russia”since an agreement “is on the table and needs to be concluded urgently”. Moscow, like Beijing, is also a signatory to the 2015 agreement.
” Footnotes “
The compromise being very close, the European negotiators have also left Vienna since Friday 4 March. If they still do not speak to each other live, the representatives of the United States, Robert Malley, and of Iran, Ali Bagheri Kani, have remained in the Austrian capital: they have since been trying, through the intermediary of the representative of the European Union, to overcome final points of disagreement, in particular on how to deal with the Revolutionary Guards – a sensitive subject. Put to the test in Afghanistan, and in Europe, the Biden administration places the revival of the JCPoA among its diplomatic priorities.
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