Borrell's trip to Tehran; From stalemate in Vienna to the possible evolvement in the Persian Gulf!
The case for lifting the sanctions has always been under the management of the Supreme National Security Council, and the relatively unannounced and long meeting of Josep Borrell with Admiral Shamkhani, head of the National Security Council of Iran, could have different messages.
NOURNEWS - Josep Borrell's visit to Tehran, following talks between him and his deputy Enrique Mora and US Special Representative for Iran Robert Malley in Brussels, in accordance to his intention to take the talks about lifting of sanctions out of the current situation, was placed in the center of global media concentration.
The EU foreign policy chief described his intention to visit Iran as follows: "My visit to Tehran has one main purpose; To break the stalemate and reduce tensions over the JCPOA revival negotiations, and to create a new impetus and opportunity to put the talks on track."
After talking to Iranian officials, Borrell spoke of the success of his visit to Tehran and said: "We will resume negotiations in the coming days and break this stalemate. It's been three months and we need to speed things up. I am very happy about this decision that has been made in Tehran and Washington."
Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amirabdollahian, also described the talks with Borrell as detailed, deep and precise, and said: "We reminded Borrell of Iran's demands and stressed that we are ready to resume talks in the coming days."
He also noted that what is important for Iran is the economic benefit of the agreement reached in 2015, and any issue that could affect our economic interest will not be acceptable.
But an important issue that could differentiate Borrell's visit to Tehran from the usual consultations between political officials was his and his delegation's relatively long meeting with Admiral Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran.
The case for lifting the sanctions has always been under the management of the Supreme National Security Council, and the relatively unannounced and long meeting of Josep Borrell with Admiral Shamkhani, head of the National Security Council of Iran, could have different messages.
Although Admiral Shamkhani's remarks during the meeting with Borrell highlighted the critical aspects of US and European inaction in JCPOA, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council's concentration on Iran's continued presence at the negotiating table and Tehran's intention to reach a strong, reliable and stable agreement shows that from Iran's point of view, the window of diplomacy in the negotiations on lifting the sanctions is still open.
It seems that the most important achievement of Borrell's visit to Tehran should be sought in attracting the attention of the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran to continue negotiations and try again to resolve the existing problems in order to reach an agreement.
"The important result of my visit to Iran was that we reopened the recent stalemate and resumed the stalled talks on JCPOA," said Borrell, referring to the EU coordinating institute's efforts to resolve issues and differences.
Now, after the end of the EU foreign policy chief's visit to Tehran and the news that the talks will resume in the coming days, the eyes are on the place, date and format of the forthcoming talks.
"The talks between Iran, the European Union and the United States will not be held in Vienna because the talks are not in the P4+1 format with the United States," he said.
He noted that the talks are likely to take place closer to the Persian Gulf and, more specifically, in a Persian Gulf state.
Some news received by Nournews indicate that Doha has a better chance of hosting the forthcoming talks than other Persian Gulf states, given Qatar's ongoing efforts to resume talks on lifting sanctions.
BY: Pooya Mirzaei
NOUNEWS