Tehran and Washington began talks in Vienna in April 2021 aimed at reviving the deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which former U.S. President Donald Trump reneged on in 2018 before he reimposed sanctions on Iran’s banking and energy sectors. After good signs of progress earlier this year, the negotiations stalled some months ago over several points of contention primarily concerning the U.S. commitment that the next American government would not leave the deal again.
“Iran believes that the diplomatic process is the best process to secure the interests of the negotiating parties in connection with the JCPOA,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said. “But we are not optimistic about the current trend [of the discussions]. We have always been realistic, and we will remain that way… [but at the moment] we are pessimistic.”
Kanaani’s comments mark a change in tone from the foreign ministry, which has for several months pushed against negative assessments of the diplomatic process made by Iran’s western counterparts. EU high representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell said earlier this month that things are “not evolving in the right direction,” and the U.S. State Department in October said nuclear diplomacy with Iran “is not our focus right now.”
Last week Iran said it had begun enriching uranium to 60% purity at its Fordo nuclear site, in response to a “political” resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board of governors against Tehran. This is the first time enrichment would reach such a level at Fordo, although enrichment to 60% purity has been happening at Iran’s other site, Natanz, since the first half of 2021.
The U.S., EU, and UK, meanwhile, have been imposing new sanctions on a host of Iranian individuals and entities over the country’s response to recent riots.
Kanaani reiterated Tehran’s position that the riots are being stirred up and backed by foreign elements. He said again that the foreign ministry has been in touch with the countries involved to inform them of the role their citizens had been playing.
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