Borrell: Time to decide to return to IRAN JCPOA 'is now'

Addressing the UN Security Council on Thursday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he is in “permanent contact” with all partis to the Vienna talks to resurrect the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

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“I am in permanent contact with all the parties to try to arrange a return to the JCPOA and ensure its full implementation,” the EU’s chief diplomat pointed out.

Borrell added, “The basic elements and terms to do this are known and on the table. And the time for decision is now.”

Borrell made the remarks at the beginning of his speech, saying “we are at a historical juncture” in which the “multilateral system is under pressure like never before”.

The European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says the basic elements and conditions for the Iran nuclear deal to be revived are on the table.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council via video conference, Borrel said that he has been in permanent contact with all the parties involved in the talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to arrange a return to the deal and ensure its full implementation.

“The basic elements and terms to do this are known and are on the table”, the top EU diplomat stated, adding, “The time for decision is now.”

The United States under the then President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and resumed all sanctions lifted by the deal, putting the existence of the deal and the remaining parties’ compliance at risk.

Iran remained committed to the terms of the deal for a year after US withdrawal, but reduced its compliance in five steps to reciprocate US pull out.

US President Joe Biden vowed to rejoin the nuclear deal after he took office in 2021, but he has so far failed to undo the measure Trump took to spoil the JCPOA.

Iranian officials have stressed the ball is in the US’s court and that Washington must make the necessary political decisions.

Iran insists that the nuclear talks must lead to the removal of all American sanctions that were imposed against Tehran following Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the landmark agreement in May 2018. Tehran has also demanded credible guarantees that Washington will not abandon the deal again.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell made the comments in an address to the UN Security Council, according to the website of EU External Action.

"I am in permanent contact with all the parties to try arrange a return to the JCPoA and ensure its full implementation," Josep Borrell said.

The top EU diplomat added that "The basic elements and terms to do this are known and on the table. And the time for decision is now."

Tehran has taken steps away from the JCPOA known as the remedial measures but it has not left it yet and it has said it will reverse course and will stop remedial measures and will return to full compliance with the JCPOA once the other parties force Washington to lift the sanctions before returning to the JCPOA, from which it withdrew in May 2018.

Since April last year, the Iranian negotiating team has been involved in marathon talks with the other remaining parties to the JCPOA – Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia – with the aim of bringing the US back into the deal and lifting its sanctions against Tehran.

However, the Vienna talks have been on hold since March as Washington insists on its refusal to undo its past wrongs through measures such as removing Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Recently, the IAEA Board of Governors issued an anti-Iran resolution drafted by Washington and the E3 accusing Iran of non-cooperation with the agency.

Iran retaliated the resolution by disconnecting and removing dozens of IAEA surveillance cameras that were installed in different Iranian nuclear sites beyond the Safeguards Agreement between Tehran and the agency.

It has also started fueling advanced IR-6 centrifuges as part of the reaction to the Western-drafted resolution at the IAEA.

Tehran has vowed it will take other measures if the IAEA continues its illegal moves.