When Ali Bagheri-Kani was not yet an Iranian nuclear negotiator, he described the 2015 Vienna nuclear deal as a "betrayal".

Nor did he support the six rounds of negotiations that were held in Vienna with the aim of reinstating the nuclear deal.

Representatives from Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and China met from April to June of this year under the aegis of then Iranian President Hassan Rouhani with negotiators from the country to save the agreement.

The United States was indirectly involved.

Rainer Hermann

Editor in politics.

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With the election of the hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as the new president, the thread of the conversation broke; Bagheri-Kani became Deputy Foreign Minister and the new nuclear negotiator. On Wednesday he spoke for several hours in Brussels with his counterpart in the EU, Enrique Mora. Both had already met in Tehran two weeks ago. In the late afternoon, Bagheri-Kani announced that Iran was ready to return to the negotiating table in Vienna before the end of November. A date will be announced next week. The EU has not yet confirmed this.

In Tehran, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced his readiness to resume negotiations. He made it clear that the Iranian leadership wanted quick results, especially the lifting of American sanctions. In May 2018, the then American President Donald Trump announced the United States' withdrawal from the agreement and imposed additional punitive measures against Tehran.

The worsening economic crisis in Iran is apparently one reason why the country is now giving up its blockade.

Another factor that plays a role is the fact that even Russia is frustrated with the behavior of the Iranian leadership and is pressing for further negotiations.

In early October, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was considering options other than diplomacy if Tehran continued to refuse to negotiate.

Apparently Iran used the time to further expand its nuclear program and to have more bargaining power when the talks are resumed.

The Europeans, the United States and Russia want to resume negotiations from where they ended in June, but statements from Tehran can be understood as if Iran wants to renegotiate important passages.

The talks with Mora were very constructive, says Bagheri-Kani.

They had served the goal of discussing “remaining differences” before resuming the nuclear negotiations, in order to conduct “result-oriented negotiations” in the future.