Borrell warns that Iran’s response does not help to return to the agreement and puts the process “in danger”

BRUSSELS, 5 (EUROPE PRESS)

The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, warned this Monday that Iran’s response to the European proposal to return to the nuclear agreement, by demanding more guarantees and the closure of the investigation of its nuclear activity, will not helps to resume the pact and has said that the “process is in danger”.

At a press conference in Brussels after the Association Council with Ukraine, the head of European diplomacy warned that the latest conditions in Iran are leading to a “divergence” in positions. “The positions are further apart, this is worrying and the whole process is in danger,” he pointed out.

In this sense, after Tehran has requested new guarantees, including the closure of the ongoing investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency into its nuclear activity, Borrell has warned that “if the purpose is to finish the agreement quickly” to return to the pact , Iran’s response “will not help”.

For all these reasons, he acknowledged that he is “less optimistic” than 28 hours ago about the convergence of the negotiations and the options for reviving the nuclear agreement. Now, Borrell will continue to maintain contacts with all the participants, in particular with the United States, on the next steps to be taken.

Tehran has assured in recent days that it needs “stronger guarantees” from Washington for the reactivation of the 2015 nuclear agreement and that the nuclear agency “must focus solely on its duties and responsibilities.” Meanwhile, the United States has rejected these requests, calling the response “unconstructive” and has anticipated that the US side will formulate its own response.

The diplomatic process sponsored by the EU seeks to restore an agreement that, although it is still in force, is badly damaged after the United States unilaterally withdrew during the Donald Trump period, and Iran breached the agreed limits on its nuclear activity. .

For the EU, the proposal put on the table by Borrell a month ago is a final document that the participants in the nuclear agreement must sign or reject, after a 16-month process of talks, mainly in Vienna, to get the United States to return to the Iranian nuclear deal.