Iran Nuclear Negotiator Announces Meeting With EU Diplomat

Iran will hold a second meeting with EU's coordinator of the Iran nuclear talks, Enrique Mora, Tehran's top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani tweeted on Monday.

"I will meet (EU) coordinator in Brussels on Wednesday to continue our talks on result-oriented negotiations (between Iran and the six powers)," Bagheri Kani tweeted, alluding to Mora's initial round of discussions in Tehran on October 14.

Initially, Iran had said that the meeting would take place on October 20, but later the EU said no date was fixed. Meanwhile the US State Department said that no additional meeting was necessary in Brussels.

In April, Iran and six powers started talks to reinstate the deal, which then-US President Donald Trump ditched three years ago before reimposing sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. But the talks were put on hold after Iran's presidential election in June that brought anti-Western hardliner Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi) to power.

The United States and European powers have urged Iran to return to negotiations, warning that time is running out as the Islamic Republic's uranium enrichment program is advancing well beyond the limits set by the nuclear pact.

Meanwhile, US Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley told reporters after a long trip to the Middle East and Europe that the reasoning behind the suspension of the Vienna talks is “wearing thin.” He said it was hard to find an “innocent explanation” for the delay.

Malley added, “I think all of our interlocutors, whether they’re in the region, or in Europe, shared a deep and growing concern about the pace and direction” of Iran’s nuclear activities.

In reaction to Trump's reimposition of sanctions, Tehran has breached the deal by rebuilding stockpiles of enriched uranium, refining it to higher fissile purity and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up output.

In having a separate meeting with the EU, Iran seems to try to re-negotiate what has been already agreed in Vienna in six rounds of talks from April to June, without the US being present.

Iran has repeatedly said it will return to negotiations “soon”, but it has yet to specify a date.

"Iran is determined to engage in negotiations that would remove unlawful and cruel sanctions in a full & effective manner, secure normalization of trade & economic relations w/ Iran, and provide credible guarantee for no further reneging," Bagheri Kani tweeted.

On Monday, Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, took a jab at Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian who had just repeated Iran’s refrain of returning to the talks “soon”. Ulyanov asked in a tweet what ‘soon’ means in diplomacy.

With reporting by Reuters