Borrell: Time to save Iran nuclear deal

In an Op-Ed run by the Financial Times, Borrell said, “After 15 months of intense and constructive negotiations in Vienna and countless interactions with the JCPOA participants and the US, I have concluded that the space for additional significant compromises has been exhausted.”

Borrel added that he has put on the table a text that addresses the sanctions removal and the nuclear steps needed to restore the JCPOA.

He also claims that the draft represents the best possible deal that is feasible.

Borrell admits that the text is not perfect, but it addresses all essential elements and includes hard-won compromises by all sides.

The EU’s top diplomat urged all sides to take due decisions and seize this “unique opportunity” to succeed, and to free up the great potential of a fully implemented deal.

He reiterated that there is no other comprehensive alternative to this draft at hand.

Iran and the P4+1 group of countries, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, have held numerous inconclusive rounds of talks to revive the JCPOA, the official name of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

During the talks, Iran also held indirect negotiations with the US, which withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018.

The main stumbling block is the US refusal to give guarantees that it will not leave the deal again and also its refusal to remove the IRGC, as the security guarantor of the Islamic Republic, from its so-called terror list.