Iran Nuclear Talks Will Resume on November 29 in Vienna
(Bloomberg) -- Negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume in Vienna on Nov. 29, ending months of speculation over whether world powers and a new government in Tehran are committed to trying to save the ailing pact and resolving a standoff that has at times brought the U.S. and Iran close to war.
In a tweet, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, said the agreed date came after a phone call with Enrique Mora, the European Union envoy who’s helped mediate the indirect talks between Iran and the U.S. with the help of diplomats from Russia and China. The EU and the U.S. confirmed the date in separate statements shortly afterwards.
“We still believe there is a window,” Ned Price, spokesman for the U.S. State Department told reporters on Wednesday, adding, “we still believe that’s viable, we still believe that’s in our national interest.”
Wednesday’s announcement is the first hard signal since June that there may be a horizon for the removal of sanctions on Iran and its return to oil markets. But before the penalties can be eased diplomats will have to overcome major sticking points over how the U.S. returns to the nuclear agreement it abandoned in 2018, and how Iran returns to compliance.
U.S. officials have repeatedly said that time is running out on Iran to return to compliance. Price on Wednesday said it remains to be seen if Iran returns to the Vienna talks “ready to negotiate.”
Oil markets extended earlier declines after the announcement, with WTI falling as much as 4.7%.
The announcement comes after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it seized an oil tanker that the U.S. was using in an attempt to confiscate a shipment of Iranian crude in the Gulf of Oman on Oct. 25, according to Iranian state TV. Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the Associated Press said Iran captured a Vietnamese vessel and denied any altercation.
Oil tankers navigating the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman have been a frequent target of tit-for-tat attacks since former U.S. President Donald Trump exited the landmark multilateral accord and started to impose tough sanctions on Iran more than three years ago.
Iran’s exports have dwindled to under one million barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, from the 2.5 million it shipped prior to Trump’s move. Iran has said it can restore oil output to pre-sanctions level within a few months and it’s likely to find a market trying to supply economies recovering from the pandemic and parrying fuel shortages in Europe.
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