As Mora Heads To Tehran, Borrell Says JCPOA Needed For Stability

Speaking at the Doha Forum international conference Saturday, Josep Borrell, the European Union (EU) foreign policy chief, said Iran and world powers were “very close” to reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

Borrell reportedly discussed with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani the humanitarian impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has sent the cost of food items spiraling across the Middle East and North Africa, whereone in three peoplewere short of food in 2020.

Borrell said he hoped a successful conclusion to 11-month talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) was possible as an “as important element of wider stability and security.”

Enrique Mora, the senior EU official chairing the Vienna talks, tweeted Friday that he would travel to Tehran Saturday to meet Ali Bagheri-Kani, lead Iranian negotiator in the Vienna talks. “Working on closing the remaining gaps…Much is at stake,” Mora wrote.

Speculation over delays in the Vienna talks has focused on Russia’s requests that any sanctions over Ukraine not affect Moscow's role in JCPOA and its trade relations with Iran and reported US-Iran deadlock over lifting a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ designation attached to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards by former president Donald Trump after leaving the JCPOA in 2018 and imposing ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions.