Indirect Nuclear Talks Between Iran And US Start In Qatar

Enrique Mora and Bagheri-Kani meeting in Tehran in March
Enrique Mora and Bagheri-Kani meeting in Tehran in March

Iran’s diplomat Ali Bagheri-Kani met with European Union envoy Enrique Mora in the nuclear talks in Qatar Tuesday, the official Iranian news website IRNA said.

The meeting signals the start of indirect talks between Iran and the United States to resolve their outstanding differences for restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA.

Mora has been the EU coordinator in the nuclear negotiations, that lasted 11 months in the Austrian capital Vienna and now are set to resume between Tehran and Washington in Doha.

The complicated negotiations aimed to restore the JCPOA that former US President Donald Trump abandoned in May 2018.

Mora and Bagheri-Kani in their meeting in Doha
Mora and Bagheri-Kani in their meeting in Doha

IRNA has so far not offered any details of what discussed between the Iranian and EU diplomats.

During a trip last weekend to Tehran the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell agreed with Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to resume talks with the US, but the two sides changed the venue to Qatar.

The talks in Vienna came to a standstill in March apparently on Iran’s demand asking the US to remove its Revolutionary Guard from Washington’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The Biden Administration has so far not accepted the demand, but Iran has agreed to resume indirect talks with EU mediation.

With the change of venue, Russia and China, signatories of the JCPOA, apparently will not be present in the talks.