This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Iran remains “quite optimistic” it can reach a nuclear deal with six major powers by Nov. 24, the country’s foreign minister said Monday, although he criticized the U.S. for imposing new sanctions.
Javad Zarif met with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who chairs the six-power group that negotiates with Iran over its nuclear program.
“We had a good discussion today with her,” he said in a news conference after meeting Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders. “I am quite optimistic after discussions with Lady Ashton that we can in fact resolve this issue in time.”
Mr. Zarif held a two-hour meeting with the EU foreign policy chief followed by a working lunch. He also met with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy Monday morning.
The foreign minister said his talks with Baroness Ashton focused on the time frame for negotiations as well as the issues still to be resolved.
The EU didn’t provide a readout of the talks. Iranian media said Mr. Zarif will travel to Rome this week and meet Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, who will replace Baroness Ashton at the end of October.
Monday’s meeting was Mr. Zarif’s first face-to-face negotiations with Baroness Ashton since Iran and the six powers failed to reach a final, comprehensive nuclear deal in Vienna in July.
At the time, Iran and the six-power group—the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Russia and China—decided to adjust the deadline for a deal by four months to Nov. 24 from July 20.
A final agreement would see the West gradually lift tight economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for steps by Tehran to limit its nuclear program and activities.
Iran says its nuclear program is for purely civilian, peaceful purposes.
Nuclear talks are expected to continue later this month ahead of and during the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting. EU spokesman Michael Mann said on Monday no date had yet been fixed.
At the news conference, Mr. Zarif criticized the U.S. for creating “impediments to progress” in the nuclear talks by imposing new sanctions on Iran.
The U.S. imposed a range of sanctions last Friday designed to deter international business leaders from circumventing Washington’s existing punitive measures.
The U.S. Treasury and State departments said the sanctions will punish a bank that provides U.S. dollars to the Iranian government; a group that helped Iran evade sanctions on oil and petrochemicals; several transportation firms that helped deliver weapons and personnel to the Assad regime in Syria; and some individuals and organizations that support Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian officials have complained that the sanctions breach the spirit of last year’s interim nuclear agreement, where the U.S. and others agreed to modestly ease restrictions on Tehran.
However, Washington has said repeatedly since last November’s deal was struck that it will continue to strictly enforce the sanctions that remain in effect.
The nuclear talks were extended in July after both sides said significant progress had been made on a number of issues in the nuclear talks, including the future of some of Iran’s nuclear facilities and the type of monitoring Iran must accept to win Western confidence it wasn’t cheating on its commitments.
However, Iranian and Western diplomats are still far apart on the amount of nuclear enrichment Tehran will be able to carry out under a full nuclear deal. The U.S. has said Iran must scale back its current nuclear program significantly, a demand Iran has called unrealistic.
There are also concerns in Western capitals about the pace of discussions between Iran and the United Nations’ atomic agency over Tehran’s past nuclear activities.
U.S. and European officials have said a failure by Iran to provide answers on its past activities could jeopardize a nuclear deal.
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