"The visit of Mora [to Tehran] indicates that we are pursuing the right path in the negotiations. If the United States decides today and returns what they took from the pockets of the Iranian people, we can make an agreement immediately after Mora's visit," Khatibzadeh was quoted as saying by the Iranian Republic Information Agency.
Mora, representing the European Union that has attempted to broker the JCPOA revival for over a year now, will arrive in Tehran on Tuesday, where he will hold talks with Iran's senior officials, including Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, on the remaining issues impeding the deal's resumption.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Saturday that the EU was making every effort to sustain the JCPOA talks, which are severely undermined by the reluctance of both, Washington and Tehran, to make any concessions. At the same time, the Iran nuclear deal is now becoming even more relevant, as the West is fearing to spark another crisis with Iran, which may dissuade it from scaling up its oil exports amid rising energy prices and Western strive to replace Russian oil.
In 2015, the EU, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the Unites States, France and Iran signed the JCPOA, which involved the lifting of sanctions in exchange for limiting Iran's nuclear program. In 2018, Trump ordered the US unilateral withdrawal from the deal and imposed numerous sanctions on Iran, which in turn announced removing restrictions on nuclear research and uranium enrichment. After taking office in January 2021, US President Joe Biden said he was seeking to revive the deal and renew US commitments under the JCPOA. The Vienna talks were launched in April 2021, but have stalled recently as both Washington and Tehran refuse to down the bar of their reciprocal demands.