Top EU Diplomat Due in Tehran for Nuclear Talks

EghtesadOnline: European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, is expected to visit Tehran on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced, amid intensified efforts to find solutions to settle the Iranian nuclear issue.

News ID: ۷۴۹۵۹۹

03 February 2020

Borrell “will visit Iran tomorrow for the first time since taking office [in early December]. He is to meet the foreign minister [Mohammad Javad Zarif] and other senior officials for consultations”, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said in a statement, ISNA reported.

Mousavi gave no details on when Borrell would arrive, or how long he would remain in the country, according to Financial Tribune.

His visit comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s nuclear program.

On Jan. 24, Borrell called for a meeting of remaining states party to the 2015 nuclear deal in February to preserve the agreement, which has been crumbling since the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018.

All parties “have reaffirmed their determination to preserve the accord, which is in everyone’s interest”, he said at the time, AFP reported.

Within the framework of the 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers, Iran agreed to drastically reduce its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.

But the withdrawal of the US from the deal and its reimposition of biting sanctions deprived Iran of expected economic benefits and prompted Tehran to announce a series of steps away from its commitments under the deal.

The European parties to the agreement triggered a complaint mechanism in January to compel Tehran to return to the full implementation of its commitments, a move sharply criticized by Tehran for condoning the US violation and pressuring the aggrieved party.