Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdel Rahman Al Thani conveyed to Iran a message from the parties to the negotiations on the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA or “nuclear deal”), Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said during a press conference with his Qatari counterpart.
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The parties held talks on bilateral and regional issues on Sunday.
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“The Foreign Minister of Qatar brought messages from the parties to the negotiations on the resumption of the nuclear deal and the lifting of sanctions against Iran,” Abdollahin said.
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The previous trip of the Foreign Minister of Qatar to Tehran took place in July 2022. At a press conference of two diplomats, the Qatari Foreign Minister said that Doha welcomes Tehran’s desire to conduct negotiations at the regional level and stressed the importance of returning all participants in the JCPOA to the implementation of this agreement.
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According to Iranian media, Qatar is among the countries through which messages are exchanged between the US and Iran, and one of the topics discussed by the Foreign Ministers of Iran and Qatar is the issue of lifting sanctions against Tehran.
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In 2015, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, France and Iran signed a nuclear deal – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which involved the lifting of sanctions in exchange for limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
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In May 2018, the United States under Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and reinstated sanctions against Tehran. In response, Iran announced a phased reduction in its obligations under the agreement, waiving restrictions on nuclear research, centrifuges and the level of uranium enrichment.
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Negotiations were held in Vienna to renew the JCPOA and lift Washington’s sanctions against Tehran. In December 2021, the parties reached an agreement on two draft agreements, in which the European side included the positions of Iran. Iranian spokesman Bagheri Kyani said the talks were going well, but US State Department spokesman Ned Price assessed the progress in Vienna as modest, urging Tehran to take the issue seriously.
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On August 22, 2022, Iran sent the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, its response on the proposed text of the draft agreement on the restoration of the Iranian nuclear deal, and also expressed its opinion on the “remaining issues” in the negotiations. The EU called Iran’s response to the nuclear deal proposal constructive and said it was consulting with the United States on further steps. The Iranian side received a response from the United States on August 24, 2022.
