US says it is willing to sit down for talks with Iran and other nations on nuclear deal
State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Thursday, “The United States will accept an invitation from the EU High Representative to diplomatically discuss Iran’s nuclear program to attend P5 + 1 and Iran’s meeting . ” P5 + 1 refers to the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – and Germany.
It is a ploy to lay the groundwork for diplomacy that could eventually break the ongoing deadlock between Washington and Tehran, with both insisting that the other should act first. US officials were careful to note that their willingness to sit down with the partners and Iran was not even a concession or the beginning of nuclear talks, but instead, it was only the first diplomatic move to begin discussing issues of substance To be done.
“As long as we sit and talk, nothing is going to happen. It doesn’t mean that we succeed when we sit and talk, but we know that if we don’t take this step If raised, the situation just goes from worst to worse, ”said the first senior official of the State Department. “This is a meaningful step, but we recognize that this is just one of many that will have to be taken from all sides.”
“Intense interaction with all the participants and the US. I am ready to invite them to an informal meeting to discuss the way forward,” he said.
It is not clear whether Irani will accept such a thing, the official told reporters on Thursday, nor has a meeting been scheduled.
It was one of several efforts that the administration unveiled on Thursday in an effort to create a basis for diplomacy.
CNN previously reported on Thursday that the Biden administration could send a signal that they were ready to re-enter a serious process with Iran and a member of the Joint Nuclear Plan (JCPOA), the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal, but The details of that point were still working.
Another senior State Department official said, “The snapbacks were designed to help ensure that Iran demonstrated its commitments under the JCPOAA.” “No other member of the United Nations Security Council agreed that the previously abolished provisions of earlier resolutions were returned last September, regardless of prior administration status. So essentially the United States must be protected by the Security Council and the United Separated into the nation system and weakened our capacity. Working with our allies and partners in the Security Council to address Iran’s volatile activity. “
“Reversing this situation basically brings us back to our good relationship with our allies and partners and strengthens our ability to engage other Security Council members on Iran,” he said.
US is also removing travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats
The US is also lifting travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration on Iranian diplomats at the United Nations that limit foreign envoys to their missions and to the United Nations grounds in New York City.
Another senior State Department official said on Thursday the US was removing travel restrictions to facilitate diplomacy to revive the faltering international agreement about the Iran nuclear program.
“The idea here is to take steps to remove unnecessary obstacles to multilateral diplomacy by amending restrictions on domestic travel,” the senior official said. “They have been extremely restrictive.
The Biden administration will revert to prior practice, which is to give diplomats from countries such as Iran and North Korea a limited latitude to travel within and around New York.
“Essentially it just overturns the last administration’s ban of additional travel restrictions and reestablish domestic travel control over Iranian delegates in line with many other missions of the United Nations and is just back to our long-standing posture In relation to the domestic visit of Iranian representatives to the United Nations, ”the official said.
The move comes after a meeting between Foreign Minister Tony Blinken and his French, German and British counterparts the day before Iran’s expected move to curb short-notice nuclear inspection next week.
Foreign ministers urged Iran not to take additional steps to comply with the agreement, according to a joint statement issued after the meeting.
The first senior State Department official said the idea could prevent Iran from taking steps that were “not part of the calculations.”
“President Biden was not particularly keen or was trying to take unilateral steps to prevent Iran from doing so.” “So these are the steps we took because we thought they were the right steps to resume diplomacy.”
According to a senior administration official, Biden is expected to address the matter in connection with foreign policy on Friday.
The US says the move is a concession to common sense;
Sources previously indicated to CNN that behind the scenes, as Tehran prepares to ban short notice inspections of its nuclear sites, Biden administration officials were clear that they would not come under pressure to make imminent concessions Were determined to or returned too early on the agreement.
Senior officials of the State Department made it clear Thursday evening that they do not view the EU-led talks as a concession or a byproduct of Tehran’s wavering moves.
The first senior State Department official said, “I would say that these are not concessions to Iran, they are concessions to common sense.” “I think we’ve seen what happened with four years of maximum pressure and not talking to Iran, a quick Iranian nuclear program and a more aggressive Iranian zone.”
The Biden administration has already faced criticism from Republicans such as Rep. Michael Macaulay, a top member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who made concessions on them in a blatant attempt to resume the already flawed Iran deal. Was charged. “
The first senior State Department official said that the only way to resolve the deadlock with Iran over the nuclear deal, or even to discuss the substance of the agreement, would be to begin and discuss how to do so. But the official clarified that success did not mean the outcome was necessary.
“We are not assuming that one side will act on its own,” the official said. Stating that “it is a laborious and difficult process,” the official said that it may take some time … to see if both parties agree on what they would define as compliance, What it means, what is a sequence. What steps does America have to take, what steps does Iran have to take. “
This process is “not something that is foregoing,” the official said, “going to be involved and talking about those people and that is why the invitation to the meeting is important and why we said we would go into it Will you be ready? ” In fact … you were able to organize a meeting like this. “
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