Obstacles still remain.
According to officials familiar with the progress of the negotiations , the US and Iran remain at loggerheads over key details of restoring the nuclear deal, and it may take weeks to resolve those differences, Bloomberg reports.
Expectations of an imminent breakthrough have heightened as Washington and Tehran responded to the EU's “final” offer to ease sanctions on Iran's economy, including oil exports, in exchange for curbing its nuclear program. One senior European official said the sides had never before been closer to rebooting their 2015 deal.
However, two other officials with knowledge of the talks said disputes persist over investigations by international monitors into Iran's past nuclear moves and economic reparations demanded by Tehran if a future US government pulls out of the deal, as former President Donald Trump did four years ago.< /p>
The talks are being watched closely by oil and gas traders and politicians, who have faced public criticism as high energy prices fuel inflation around the world. The deal could free up millions of barrels of oil and petroleum products that Iran has held onto since the Trump administration reimposed sanctions in 2018.
While the negotiators have not publicly commented on the details of the latest developments, it is likely that Tehran has faced pressure to provide more concession This month, he even refused to demand that the United States remove Iranian forces from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.
“The ball is in Iran's court,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday. Saturday, August 26, during a visit to Algeria.
A White House National Security Council official acknowledged that gaps remain in the talks and said the US is continuing to negotiate. A spokesman, who declined to comment further, said Iran's centrifuges would be removed and, even if Iran abandons the deal, it would take six months to develop a nuclear weapon.
Iran said it was reviewing the US response to the plan The EU will comment when the assessment is complete without providing further details.
A White House National Security Council official also said Iran must answer the IAEA's questions, and the US firmly supports the agency's independence.
In recent weeks, the IAEA investigation has become a major point of contention and an obstacle to progress. But the agency's CEO, Rafael Mariano Grossi, suggested this week that a solution to the problem is possible.
“We will get there,” Grossi said, adding that the resumption of the nuclear deal would allow IAEA officials to resume general monitoring and unscheduled inspections.
Iran wants to see how the agency's governing board views the investigation at a meeting on 12 September in Vienna. Officials said that while it was unlikely that the IAEA would drop its investigation entirely, investigators could complete their work as part of the nuclear deal.
Iran responded to Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal by massively expanding uranium enrichment, producing material slightly below the purity required for nuclear warheads. Tehran denies its nuclear program is aimed at producing weapons, but its progress has raised concerns among regional rivals, including Israel, which opposes reviving the deal, which it says will ultimately strengthen Tehran militarily.
This week, the US launched airstrikes in eastern Syria against groups linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps after missiles were fired at two bases where Americans are stationed. Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The Biden administration has denied that its strikes are related to nuclear deal negotiations. Regional attacks by Iran and its allies have escalated in the past during periods of heightened tensions over nuclear talks, although recent weeks have been relatively calm.
Even if Washington and Tehran agree to restore the deal, implementation will be a challenge, according to the European official, as Iran's full return to oil markets will take months.
That's a problem for U.S. officials in tense negotiations. Any additional concessions to Iran raise the prospect of provoking a rethink among skeptical members of Congress. The issue could come to light during the US midterm elections in November, when the Biden administration risks losing control of the Senate, especially if the deal could help deliver cheaper gas to American consumers.
Read also: Iran seeks to fill the void left by the Russian Federation in the European oil market – Bloomberg
The Iran nuclear deal was reached in 2015 between Iran and the USA, Great Britain, Russia, France, China, Germany, and the EU. Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities and admit international inspectors in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions that have been devastating to the country.
In 2018, the United States, under the leadership of Donald Trump, withdrew from the agreement and reinstated unilateral sanctions against Iran. Other participants in the agreement were skeptical. Iran has announced a gradual reduction of its obligations.
President Joe Biden's administration is showing readiness to renew the nuclear deal with Tehran. In October 2021, Iran agreed to resume negotiations on the nuclear deal. In June 2022, negotiations partially resumed – between Iran and the European Union.
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Read more about the prospects of signing a new nuclear agreement in Mykola Zamikula's article “Iran on the verge of creating a nuclear bomb”.
