The leaders of France, Germany and China are calling at the parties involved talks about Iran’s nuclear ambitions to take advantage of a “window of opportunity” to revive the 2015 deal that was derailed when former US president, Donald Trump, pulled out.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spoke via videoconference on Monday, agreed on the need to move negotiations forward to get a deal “as soon as possible” and avoid the risk of nuclear proliferation and further threats to regional stability.
The 2015 accord is aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, with the promise of lifting international sanctions in exchange for Tehran’s restricting its nuclear activities.
Current US President Joe Biden says he wants the US to return to the agreement and revive it, but in six rounds of talks in Vienna this spring, the six countries that remain – Iran, along with France, Britain, China, Germany, and Russia – have been inconclusive.
Iran and the US have been holding indirect talks, and diplomats from both sides have said major differences remain, and each wants the other to make greater concessions before resuming negotiations.
Iran has insisted on the lifting of all sanctions, pointing to the promises of economic relief under the accord.
The Biden administration says it is ready to lift economic measures related to nuclear work, but that it will keep other sanctions, including over human rights and Iran’s support to militant movements in the Arab world.
At the end of June, after the last of the negotiation rounds, France urged Iran to make decisions to allow the revival of the accord.
“We expect the Iranian authorities to take the final decisions — no doubt difficult ones — which will allow the negotiations to be concluded” in Vienna, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
