Iranian nuclear: resumption of negotiations for a relaunch of the 2015 agreement

The Coburg Palace, in Vienna, this Monday, November 29, 2021 © VLADIMIR SIMICEK / AFP

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2 min

For the first time since June, Iran's nuclear program is at the center of a meeting of the countries involved in this highly sensitive issue, this Monday, November 29 in Austria.

The rise of the Iranian program is worrying.

Pessimistic statements follow one another on the possibility of a return to the Vienna Agreement, a compromise weakened by the departure of the United States under Donald Trump.

The meeting has started.

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With our special

correspondent

These are crucial discussions which have just started in Vienna.

The delegations arrived one after the other at the Coburg Palace, and met in the early afternoon.

Chinese, Russian, French, British and German negotiators are present, as well as the Iranian team, led for the first time by Ali Bagheri Kani, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and new Iranian negotiator.

He was appointed following the election this year of an ultraconservative president in Tehran: Ebrahim Raïssi.

This Iranian team was greeted by the cries of a small group of protesters hostile to the Islamic Republic, kept at bay by the Austrian police.

The meeting on Monday is set in the "hall of mirrors" of the Coburg Palace, a windowless room, said a source close to the organization.

As in previous talks this year, no American envoy is seated at the negotiating table, since the United States left the nuclear deal during Donald Trump's presidency, but an American delegation is present in Vienna, to participate indirectly in the dialogue.

Will the meetings which begin in the Austrian capital make it possible to resuscitate the 2015 agreement, which guarantees the civilian and peaceful character of Iran's nuclear work?

Will they allow Iran to move towards lifting the American sanctions that are hitting its economy hard?

This is the whole point of the process which resumes here after more than five months of interruption.

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• Iran

• IAEA

• Nuclear

• Austria

• United States

• Ebrahim Raisi

• Diplomacy