The European Union and United States are studying Iran’s response to what the EU has called its “final” proposal to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Reuters reported.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the United States was sharing its views on Iran’s response with the European Union after receiving Tehran’s comments from Brussels.
“For the moment, we are studying it and we are consulting with the other JCPOA participants and the U.S. on the way forward,” an EU spokesperson said.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said earlier this month that he has proposed a new draft text for the Iran nuclear deal.
“After 15 months of intense, constructive negotiations in Vienna and countless interactions with the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) participants and the US, I have concluded that the space for additional significant compromises has been exhausted. I have now put on the table a text that addresses, in precise detail, the sanctions lifting as well as the nuclear steps needed to restore the JCPOA,” Borrell wrote in an essay titled “Now is the time to save the Iran nuclear deal” published in the Financial Times
.According to Josep Borrell, the proposed text “represents the best possible deal” and no further major alterations should be expected.
He admitted that the deal did not address human rights issues and Iran’s regional activities that both Washington and the EU are concerned with.
Iran responded to the proposal late on Monday but none of the parties provided any details.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian had announced that its leaders would respond by midnight, urging the United States to be flexible in resolving the three outstanding issues.
“Our answer will be given to the E.U. tonight at 12 midnight. … There are three issues that, if resolved, we can reach an agreement in the coming days,” he said, according to Reuters.
“We have told them that our red lines should be respected. … We have shown enough flexibility. … We do not want to reach a deal that after 40 days, two months or three months fails to be materialized on the ground,” said Amirabdollahian. “Like Washington, we have our own ‘Plan B’ if the talks fail.”
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal, reached before he took office, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh U.S. sanctions, spurring the Islamic Republic to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.