New U.S. envoy spoke with Europeans on Iran nuclear deal -sources

By John Irish and Arshad Mohammed

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, Robert Malley, member of the U.S. National Security Council, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Head of Iran Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wait to start a meeting at the Beau Rivage Palace Hotel in Lausanne March 29, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski/Pool/File Photo

 

PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new U.S. Iran envoy spoke with British, French and German officials on Thursday as the United States explores how to revive the 2015 nuclear deal former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

 

"It was to take stock of the dossier and to assess what our state of mind is," a European diplomatic source said of U.S. special envoy Rob Malley's conversation with the British, French and German foreign ministry political directors.

 

A second source confirmed that the discussion took place but offered no details. The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

The nuclear deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was struck by Iran and six major powers and committed Iran to restricting its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief from the United States and others. Malley was a member of the U.S. team that negotiated the deal during the Obama administration.

 

U.S. President Joe Biden has said if Tehran returns to the pact, Washington would do so as well and would then seek to build a broader pact to also deal with Iran's development of ballistic missiles and support for proxy forces in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.

 

Trump abandoned the deal in 2018 and revived U.S. sanctions. Iran in 2019 begin violating the deal, including by enriching larger quantities of uranium to higher levels of purity.

 

The Biden administration has insisted Iran resume complying before it would. Tehran argues that Washington abandoned the agreement and should return before Iran does.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the time it would take Iran to make enough fissile material for a single nuclear weapon has fallen to three or four months from over a year under the deal.

 

"From our perspective, a critical early priority has to be to deal with what is an escalating nuclear crisis as they (Iran) move closer and closer to having enough fissile material for a weapon," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at an event in Washington on Friday. [L1N2K429J]

 

The talks with the British, French and German officials are likely only the first step in consultations that will ultimately bring in China and Russia, the other major powers in the pact, and, eventually Iran itself.

 

French President Emmanuel Macron was quoted on Friday as saying any new negotiations would be very "strict" and should include Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional adversary, Al Arabiya television reported.

 

(Reporting by John Irish in Paris and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; editing by Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-30

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Well done president. Get it done.

trouble is that once (if it happens) the Sanctions be lifted for whatever reason... 

 - who knows what else can can be slipped into Iran under cover on their ships??

1 hour ago, tifino said:

trouble is that once (if it happens) the Sanctions be lifted for whatever reason... 

 - who knows what else can can be slipped into Iran under cover on their ships??

As far as I know, ships are currently not controlled, except for tankers. In case something would need to be slipped by ship, it would not be necessary to wait for sanctions to be lifted.

Why would Iran trust any new US commitment?  In 2024 Donald the Great may be again in the White House...

6 hours ago, tifino said:

trouble is that once (if it happens) the Sanctions be lifted for whatever reason... 

 - who knows what else can can be slipped into Iran under cover on their ships??

The inspectioni regime was working before Trump withdrew from the agreement.

Why Israeli Nuclear Experts Disagree with Netanyahu About the Iran Deal

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-israeli-nuclear-experts-disagree-with-netanyahu-about-the-iran-deal

Troll post with false or misleading information has been removed along with reply.

 

OP: "U.S. President Joe Biden has said if Tehran returns to the pact, Washington would do so as well and would then seek to build a broader pact to also deal with Iran's development of ballistic missiles and support for proxy forces in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere."

 

If Biden means: re-join the original deal...lift sanctions in return for the end of enrichment - good! Get the possible nuclear weapons part off the table....the agreement's original purpose. So that we can all breath more easily again.  

 

Then, sort out the ballistic missiles and the proxy forces bit in a separate agreement, as part of a comprehensive Middle East peace deal including ALL the players: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Gulf states, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Israel and the Palestinians.

 

If Biden tries to lump all the issues together in a single package, as Trump did, it will be a non starter.

 

If Biden achieves both parts separately, there's a Nobel Peace Prize in it for him.

I for one hope we all rejoin the treaty and start growing towards a more amicable relationship let’s stop the killing and stop the suffering of the average Iranian families the Iranians know even if they had nukes they would be wiped out in any exchange 

So why does Iran already have means to manufacture 20% enriched uranium 2-35 when they don't have the technology to use it for peaceful purpose?  It is not as if they could just put 20% in place of 3.75% uranium reactor.

4 hours ago, Iron Tongue said:

So why does Iran already have means to manufacture 20% enriched uranium 2-35 when they don't have the technology to use it for peaceful purpose?  It is not as if they could just put 20% in place of 3.75% uranium reactor.

Iran was allowed to keep some centrifuges under the terms of the agreement. And they do have the know-how to build more.