The EU’s political director is set to hold talks with Iranian officials in Tehran on Thursday, and European officials are warning that the visit will not be “business as usual” as the West is pressuring Iran to return to negotiations to revive the nuclear deal.
“The visit comes at an important time,” diplomats from France, the UK, and Germany said Wednesday, according to Reuters. The three countries, known as the E3, are the European signatories to the JCPOA.
“The situation in the nuclear field has been worsening and been aggravated continuously since then. For this reason, we do not see this visit as ‘business as usual’, but rather as a decisive visit in the crisis,” the E3 officials said.
Separately, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said the actions of Iran’s government “raises doubts” about its intention to return to talks. “While refusing to negotiate, Iran creates facts on the ground that further complicate the return to the JCPOA,” she said.
Washington also ramped up the rhetoric against Iran Wednesday, with US officials warning “other options” were being considered. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his comments alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who made clear some of the “options” include military action.
The JCPOA talks have been stalled since June 20th, around the time Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi was elected. Raisi is viewed as a hardliner, but he still favors a JCPOA revival if the US lifts sanctions, and his government has said Iran intends to return to talks soon, without giving a specific date.
While the West blames the delay on Iran, it was the Biden administration’s refusal to lift all Trump-era sanctions that dragged out the talks in the first place. The negotiations started in April and lasted through June as the two sides negotiated limited sanctions relief, a significant concession for Iran. The last round of talks wrapped up with the two sides far apart on key issues.
Hard to play ‘good cop, bad cop’ when the only line is “Surrender or die.”
Even when you throw in ‘worse cop’, the line is “Surrender or die.”
All you can do is play with the punctuation;
U.S. – “Surrender or die (!);
Israel – “Surrender of die (.) or (!!!);
EU – “Surrender or die (?).
Exceptional US “Diplomat”: “All options are on the table: Surrender or die!”
Just more arm twisting by the usual suspects. If the EU is so concerned, why fon’t they spend their energies fixing the sticking point. Why don’t they tell the U.S. to drop the sanctions, instead of
pushing Iran to return with the sanctions on?
There is nothing to negotiate… US come back to the deal is the only action needed…!
Iran’s problem is that the oil price crashed and took down (briefly) the stock market; the trillion dollar oil derivatives game was cashed in towards the World Economic Forum’s, Global Reset gambit.
The Mullahs have no leverage at the moment; it will be years before – if ever – the oil derivatives game is threatened by cutting oil transit lanes.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/war-iran-calling-americas-bluff/5675750