The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs Josep Borrell said on Tuesday that negotiations with Iran are “very close”. The EU is hopeful that an agreement can be reached before the end of the year, which would see the return of Iranian crude oil to the global energy market and help calm the price fluctuations and market instability. The EU is eager to find a deal that will help both sides achieve their strategic goals.
The latest news came as Borrell was speaking on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Qatar. Enrique Mora, the EU’s nuclear negotiator, will visit Tehran on Saturday to discuss the matter with Iranian counterparts. While the EU has been cautious about reviving the deal, some experts see it as a way to undermine market stabilization. Meanwhile, Russian diplomats are making last-minute demands in the hopes of preventing an agreement.
After the US unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal, Iran started rolling back on most of its terms. While the EU has been working to bring back the deal, Iran and Russia are still negotiating some issues. The Iranian government wants to lift its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps off the terror blacklist and remove them from sanctions. Borrell did not specify what criteria would have to be met to revive the nuclear deal.
The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Saturday that the EU and Iran were “very close” to an agreement. The agreement was reached in 2015, and world powers agreed to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. However, the United States pulled out of the agreement in 2018, and Tehran has continued to breach the terms of the deal. The EU and Iran’s foreign minister, Enrique Mora, are hoping to resolve the remaining problems so that the agreement can be finalised as soon as possible.