IAEA chief stresses urgency of Iran nuclear deal revival amid US procrastination

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has underscored the urgency of resuming negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, warning that the situation could quickly worsen if the stalled talks fail.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Tuesday that the diplomatic effort to resuscitate the nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), “is not at its best point,” but progress is "not impossible".

“I hope to be able to re-set, restore, reinforce that indispensable dialogue,” he said during a discussion at the London-based Chatham House think tank. “Without that, things are going to get worse.”

The talks to salvage the JCPOA kicked off in the Austrian capital of Vienna in April 2021, three years after the United States, under Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the deal and imposed draconian sanctions as part of the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

The negotiations, which kicked off under the Biden administration, have been at a standstill since August last year due to Washington’s insistence on its hard-nosed position of not removing all the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.

Iran, whose strict adherence to the deal had been certified several times by the IAEA, maintains that it is necessary for the US to offer guarantees that it will not withdraw or violate the agreement again. The US has refused, complicating the prospects of the talks.

Grossi further said that in spite of the standoff in the talks, he remained optimistic about progress.

“I wouldn’t despair in the sense that the JCPOA cannot be revived,” he said.

“I’m not saying yes JCPOA [or] no JCPOA. The important thing is to keep the non-proliferation rule strongly in place, and so we will see,” he said. “The next few weeks and months will be crucial to determine whether there is a possibility.”

ME