Most countries involved in JCPOA talks agree with EU proposal: Borrell

The European Union's top diplomat Josep Borrell has said that most countries involved in negotiations with Iran agree with the EU proposal aimed at salvaging the 2015 nuclear deal that the US unilaterally abandoned in 2018 despite Iran's full compliance.

"Most of them agree, but I still don't have the answer from the United States, which I expect during this week," Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, said in an interview with Spain's national broadcaster TVE on Tuesday.

He hastened to add that Iran has asked for a few adjustments to the EU proposal, which has not been made public yet.

The proposal, Borell said, follows 16 months of indirect talks between Iran and the United States, with the EU shuttling between the parties.

Iran submitted its response to the EU draft proposal on August 15, a week after the latest round of talks wrapped up in Vienna.

Four days of talks between representatives of Iran and the five remaining parties to the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), ended on August 8 with a modified text on the table.

After submitting its response to the EU proposal, Tehran urged Washington to show "realism and flexibility" in order to reach an agreement.

A day later, the EU confirmed that it had received Iran's response, saying the bloc is "studying" the reply with parties to the deal and the United States.

Nabila Massrali, a spokesperson for Borrell, who coordinated talks between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries in the Austrian capital of Vienna, said they were "studying it" and "consulting with the other JCPOA participants and the US on the way ahead."

On Monday, addressing a university event in the northern Spanish city of Santander, Borrell said the response provided by Iran “was reasonable,” expressing “hope that this response will allow us to complete the negotiations.”

EU foreign policy chief says Iran's response to bloc's proposal on JCPOA revival 'reasonable'

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"There was a proposal from me as coordinator of the negotiations... and a response from Iran that I considered reasonable. It was transmitted to the United States, which has not yet responded formally," he said, adding that a possible meeting on reviving the JCPOA could be held "this week".

The US State Department also issued a statement on Monday, saying “Iran responded with several comments,” adding that Washington “will respond to Iran's response as soon as our internal consultations are completed and as soon as our consultations with our close partners are completed."

Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the JCPOA in May 2018 and reinstated draconian sanctions on Iran despite Tehran’s full compliance with its share of commitments under the landmark accord.

After exercising "strategic patience" for one year, Tehran started to gradually scale back its commitments under the deal in 2019 but maintained that its “remedial measures” were reversible provided the other parties fulfill their commitments under the multilateral agreement.

Unlike the United States, the Islamic Republic of Iran never left the JCPOA.

In April last year, Tehran and the world powers started negotiations in Vienna to salvage the deal and lift sanctions on Iran. Despite progress, the US indecisiveness and procrastination caused a stalemate in the talks.

The Vienna talks resumed on August 4 after a five-month impasse, with expert-level negotiations held between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries.

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