Major disagreements remain on Iran nuclear deal - Paris

Paris, May 2021

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Q. – Do you think there has been enough progress in your negotiations in Vienna on the nuclear agreement and a dialogue between Iran and the IAEA that is sufficiently substantive to clarify and resolve the issues that have not been dealt with thus far to extend the technical agreement, which ends on 21 May?

THE SPOKESPERSON – The discussions that resumed on 7 May in Vienna have led to some initial progress on the nuclear issue. Nevertheless, major disagreements remain on some key points that must be ironed out in order to reach an agreement providing for the return of Iran and the United States and their full implementation of the JCPOA. There is still a lot to do, within very tight deadlines.

There is a broad agreement on the urgency and importance of Iran’s return to full implementation of all the verification and surveillance measures provided by the JCPOA, which that country unilaterally suspended on 23 February. Without the implementation of these measures, the IAEA is unable to fully carry out its mandate.

If an agreement on Iran’s resumption of its commitments is not reached before the expiration of the bilateral technical arrangement between Iran and the Agency, they will have to agree on its extension.

Along with its E3 partners, France continues to play a major role in these discussions, in a manner that is both rigorous, with respect to the fundamental challenges of non-proliferation, and pragmatic. (…)./.