Int'l Relations

US says Brussel meeting ‘not necessary’ for Iran nuclear talks

Washington does not think negotiations in Belgium are necessary before the resumption of indirect talks with Iran over reviving the nuclear deal in Austria, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Monday. Iran has said it will hold discussions with the European Union (UN) in the coming days on the issues raised in Tehran.

A senior EU official said last week Iran was not ready yet to return to actual talks with world powers over reviving its 2015 nuclear program and related U.S. sanctions but could discuss with the EU in Brussels texts from when negotiations ended in June.

After initially suggesting optimism that preparatory talks in the Belgian capital could take place soon, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell played down the possibility on Monday and dismissed Iranian reports of discussions planned for Thursday this week.

“To be clear, we do not think it is necessary,” Price told reporters at a news briefing when asked about the possibility of a meeting in Brussels.

“The destination we seek is in Vienna, not an intermediate step in Brussels,” he noted, adding the United States its allies and partners involved in the Iran deal agreed that the indirect talks in Vienna “should resume as soon as possible.”

Earlier on Monday, Iranian hardline President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran backs talks with six major powers that are result-oriented.

“We are serious about result-oriented negotiations…If Americans are serious, they should remove unjust sanctions on Iran,” Raisi told state TV.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh has stated the Thursday talks between Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri and EU official Enrique Mora in Tehran were good and constructive.

Talking to reports during his weekly briefing on Monday, Khatibzadeh added that Bagheri conveyed Iran’s message to the coordinator of the negotiations and the two sides agreed to continue talks in Brussels in the next few days.  

He noted that this agreement was bilateral. 

Khatibzadeh said in Brussels, Iran and the other parties must hold talks over the challenges and obstacles they failed to resolve in Vienna. 

Khatibzadeh added that the talks will be pursued by the Foreign Ministry and the members of the negotiating team will be introduced. 

He noted that the meeting in Brussels will be the continuation of the talks over issues raised in Tehran. 

Khatibzadeh said the continuation of talks by Iran is a final decision, adding that Iran insists all sides return to full compliance with the nuclear deal unconditionally and under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and all anti-Iran sanctions be lifted. 

He also referred to the Joe Biden administration’s failure to make good on its promise to go down a different path than that taken by former US president Donald Trump.

IFP Media Wire

Reports and views published in the Media Wire section have been retrieved from other news agencies and websites, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Iran Front Page (IFP) news website. The IFP may change the headlines of the reports in a bid to make them compatible with its own style of covering Iran News, and does not make any changes to the content. The source and URL of all reports and news stories are mentioned at the bottom of each article.

Recent Posts

Historic all-Women flight lands in Mashhad

For the first time in Iran's aviation history, a flight carrying an all-female crew and…

3 hours ago

Tehran Cyber Police shut down 40 Instagram accounts of harassers

Tehran’s Cyber Police Chief, Brigadier General Davood Moazzami Goudarzi, announced a crackdown on individuals causing…

5 hours ago

Qatar warns may stop gas shipments to EU amid Russia-Ukraine war

Doha will stop gas shipments to the EU if member states enforce new legislation on…

5 hours ago

UK armed forces struggling for recruits: Telegraph

At least 15,000 British soldiers left the country's Armed Forces between November 2023 and October…

5 hours ago

Nearly 85k Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine: Report

Journalists have identified the names of 84,761 Russian soldiers who died during the war in…

9 hours ago

US downs own warplane while bombing Yemen: Pentagon

The United States Navy has inadvertently shot down its own F/A-18 fighter jet in a…

9 hours ago