Iran has notified European negotiators that it is not ready to resume nuclear negotiations in Vienna to restore the 2015 nuclear deal until President-elect Ebrahim Raisi takes office in August, an Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The official said “they are not prepared to come back before the new government is formed” and that it was unclear whether talks would resume once Raisi takes office on August 5 or until he forms a new cabinet. “We are now talking probably not before mid-August,” the official added.
Officials from Iran have been holding intense negotiations with their counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China in Vienna since April to restore the 2015 deal. Although the United States (US) has sent a delegation, led by Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley, to Vienna, it has not directly met the Iranian side. In addition, while diplomats have expressed satisfaction with the discussions so far, the sixth round of talks ended on June 20 with no sign of when the next round of negotiations would resume.
In June, Iran elected hardline cleric Raisi as the new President, raising concerns that the Raisi-led government could pursue an aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East, including expanding its proxy network in the region and taking an uncompromising stand on its nuclear programme.
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On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed that Iran could enrich uranium up to 90% purity, which is weapons-grade and is a level suitable for manufacturing a nuclear weapon. However, Rouhani stated that his government was still interested in restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Rouhani’s statements come as Iran refused to extend a monitoring deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that would allow the organisation to place monitoring cameras in Iranian nuclear facilities.
Iran and the P5+1 (the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany), with the European Union (EU), signed a landmark nuclear deal in 2015. The deal, which extended sanctions relief to Tehran for significantly reducing its nuclear programme, sought to prolong Iran’s “breakout capacity,” the time required by a country to produce high enough enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon.
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However, the previous US administration led by Donald Trump decided to unilaterally withdraw from the JCPOA in 2018 and re-imposed punitive measures on Iran. President Joe Biden, who came to power in 2021, has expressed willingness to re-join the JCPOA and remove the crippling sanctions.
A US State Department spokesperson told Reuters that Iran had sought more time before resuming talks to conduct its presidential transition smoothly. “When Iran is done with its process, we are prepared to plan our return to Vienna to continue with our talks,” the spokesperson said, adding that “We remain interested in seeking a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA.”