Energy News Beat Publishers Note: While it is a great thing to be in talks with Iran and the United States. What does “indirect talks” mean, especially after Iran had expressed no desire to enter into talks. Their new oil export agreement with China went a long way to guarantee cash flow even without the U.S. sanctions being lifted.
The US will begin indirect consultations in Vienna next week with Iran, through the mediation of EU foreign affairs commissioner Josep Borrell, the EU said today following a virtual meeting between the remaining participants in the Iran nuclear deal.
“Participants agreed to resume this session of the joint commission in Vienna next week, in order to clearly identify sanctions lifting and nuclear implementation measures, including through convening meetings of the relevant expert groups,” said Borrell, who serves as coordinator of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear agreement.
“In this context, the coordinator will also intensify separate contacts in Vienna with all JCPOA participants and the US,” the EU said.
US president Joe Biden pledged to return the US to the Iran nuclear deal, but Washington and Tehran so far have not met directly or agreed on the specific sequence of steps to revive the JCPOA. The US has pressed Iran to first return to full compliance with restrictions on its nuclear program. Tehran previously said that the US should first lift all sanctions before talks could even begin.
A sudden influx of Iranian crude shipments to China earlier this year tested Biden’s slow-paced approach to reviving the Iran nuclear deal. More than 500,000 b/d of unaccountable crude — the origin of which cannot be tracked easily — arrived in China in January, with a further 400,000 b/d arriving in February-March, data from oil analytics firm Vortexa show.