Talks on removal of anti-Iran sanctions kick off in Qatari capital

A fresh round of negotiations over the removal of anti-Iran sanctions has started in the Qatari capital of Doha, in a high-stakes diplomatic process aimed at breaking the stalemate in the revival of the 2015 Iran deal.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday that Iran’s chief negotiator Bagheri Kani, who also serves as Iran’s deputy foreign minister, had met with European Union deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora in Doha.

The EU is tasked with coordinating indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States during the process.

Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Tuesday that Bagheri Kani, also in his capacity as Iran's deputy foreign minister, had met and conversed with European Union deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora in Doha.

Earlier in the day, the agency announced that Iran’s top negotiator to the sanctions removal talks had arrived in the Qatari capital.

Media reports said Robert Malley, the US special envoy for Iran, had also landed in Qatar for the resumption of indirect discussions with Tehran about ways to revive the Iran deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The talks came after several rounds of negotiations had been held in the Austrian capital of Vienna since April last year to restore the landmark deal, which was ditched by former US President Donald Trump in May 2018.

In quitting the agreement, Trump unleashed what he called the “maximum pressure” campaign to bring Iran to its knees. Tehran maintains that the policy has failed dismally. The administration of US President Joe Biden agrees, yet it has not taken any tangible steps to deliver on its promise of repealing the policy.

Iran urges US to abandon ‘sanctions lunacy’, advises IAEA against ‘politicized approach’

In recent months, Iran has cited Washington’s indecisiveness as the reason behind the protraction of the talks, as a number of key issues remain unresolved, ranging from the removal of all post-JCPOA sanctions to the provision of guarantees by the American side that it will not leave the deal again.

The new round of talks was held just a few days after European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, visited Tehran seeking to break the impasse.

Iran’s former Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a news briefing on Monday that the negotiators will not discuss nuclear issues, but rather, they will focus on pending issues concerning the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iran.

The spokesman reiterated that Tehran will not hold any direct negotiations with the United States over the revival of the 2015 deal, emphasizing that “the talks would be indirect and would be facilitated by the European Union.”