‘No harm’: Iran seeks detente with West over nuclear programme, new talks
Through Gulf backchannels, Iran has avoided a direct clash with Israel despite the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran
In an interview with Iranian state TV on August 23, newly appointed Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi indicated the shift in policy, bringing it in line with the West’s position by acknowledging that parts of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed in 2015 had been rendered invalid by the passage of time.
Araghchi said the JCPOA “in its current form is not revivable” because key deadlines in the agreement had not been met, necessitating talks on such clauses to be reopened and changes to be made.
But Araghchi, who previously played an important role in the successful negotiations for the 2015 JCPOA and the failed attempt to revive it in 2021, said once such a complicated diplomatic document was reopened, “reassembling it is a very difficult task”.
Thus fresh negotiations would be required for a new agreement, using the JCPOA and its negotiation format as a “reference”, according to the Iranian foreign minister.
Tehran had previously insisted that any negotiations on reining in its nuclear programme should be based on the JCPOA, which then US President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. The remaining signatories of the pact are Iran, the UK, France, Germany, China and Russia.
