Iranian nuclear: Russian demands cause a halt in negotiations
Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani leaving Vienna's Coburg Palace after the halt on Iran nuclear talks.
March 11, 2022. AFP - JOE KLAMAR
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Negotiations on the Iranian nuclear, which seemed on the verge of success just a week ago, were suspended on Friday March 11.
Moscow's request for additional guarantees complicated the deal.
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"We have to take a break from the talks due to external factors
," tweeted Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy chief coordinating the process.
"
A final text is almost ready and on the table
", he added, saying to remain "
in contact
" with the various parties and the United States "
to overcome the current situation and reach an agreement
".
On March 4, diplomats spoke of an imminent agreement, but the next day Moscow, an essential pillar of the negotiations, cast a chill.
Russia, hit by Western sanctions after its invasion of Ukraine, has thus requested American guarantees that these retaliatory measures would not affect its economic cooperation with Iran.
Claims deemed "
off topic
" by the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, but which put a stop to the discussions.
A recovery “very, very soon…”
Tehran has been engaged for eleven months in talks in Vienna with the major powers to try to save the 2015 agreement.
Concluded by Iran on one side, the United States, China, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Germany on the other, this pact was supposed to prevent Tehran from acquiring the atomic bomb in exchange for the lifting of the sanctions that are suffocating its economy.
But it crumbled after Washington pulled out in 2018, reinstating its measures against Iran.
In response, Iran gradually freed itself from the limits imposed on its nuclear program.
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To read also:
Iranian nuclear: does the war in Ukraine threaten the Tehran-Moscow axis?
On leaving Coburg Palace, the luxury hotel in the Austrian capital where the talks are taking place, EU diplomat Enrique Mora said he hoped for a resumption “
very, very soon
”.
"Iran and the United States have consistently shown a very constructive, very positive approach,
" he said.
And to add: “
We are at the stage of the footnotes.
Russian negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov for his part denounced “
attempts to blame everything
” on Moscow.
Iran, close to Russia,
finds itself in a difficult position and had accused the United States on Thursday, which would have formulated "
new demands
".
On Friday, the spokesman for Iranian Foreign Affairs, Said Khatibzadeh, wanted to be reassuring.
“
No external factor will affect our common wish for a collective agreement
,” he reacted on Twitter.
"
The pause can provide the impetus to resolve the remaining issues
."
With AFP
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