Iran trying to influence European position on nuclear file

Mohamed Shaath

Chief Iranian negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, started a European tour, as part of Iran’s efforts to revive the deal on its nuclear program.

Negotiations over the program are expected to resume on November 29 in Vienna.

Bagheri said his country would spare no effort in defending its national interests and lift what he described as the ‘illegal’ sanctions imposed on it.

He added on Twitter that the tour he is making in Europe would include the capitals of the three European countries that signed the deal, namely France, Germany and the UK.

Breakthrough

Bagheri’s tour comes within the ‘knock-on-door’ policy that Iran resorts to in its bid to influence European positions, especially in light of Iran’s belief that this position is easy to influence.

Europe’s stance on the Iranian nuclear file is far more flexible than that of the United States which signaled its readiness to escalate against Tehran more than once in the past few months.

This happened especially after Iran evaded a return to the nuclear negotiations in Vienna.

By influencing European positions, Iran wants to obtain support to fulfill the demands it made since the beginning of the first round of the Vienna negotiations.

These demands include the lifting of sanction and the provision of guarantees by Washington that it will not withdraw from the nuclear agreement again as it did under former US president Donald Trump.

Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018 and imposed several packages of economic sanctions on Iran.

The Iranian interest and insistence on Washington providing guarantees of non-withdrawal is manifest in the remarks of a large number of Iranian officials.