Borrell told the Financial Times that the EU is making a last-ditch attempt to save the Iran nuclear deal and break a deadlock triggered by Tehran’s demand that Washington lifts its terrorist designation on the IRGC.
According to the Financial Times, Borrell claimed that he was seeking a “middle way” to end the impasse, which threatens to scupper more than a year of European diplomatic efforts to seal a deal that would lead to the US rejoining the 2015 accord and lifting sanctions on Iran.
He said he wanted EU negotiator Enrique Mora to visit Tehran to discuss the issue, and claimed that Iran “was very much reluctant”.
Borrell further claimed that the diplomatic push is “the last bullet”.
According to the Financial Times, Borrell is considering a scenario whereby the designation on the IRGC is lifted but kept in place on other parts of the organisation.
“At a certain moment, I will have to say, as co-ordinator [of the Vienna talks] I make this proposal on the table, formally . . . the only equilibrium point possible would be this one,” Borrell claimed. “We cannot continue like this forever, because in the meantime Iran continues developing their nuclear programme.”
He added that “the file is on the table of President Biden himself, my discussions with [Antony] Blinken have reached the limit”.
Borrell went on to say that the US and Iran wanted a deal. “We Europeans will be very much beneficiaries from this deal, the situation has changed now. For us it was something . . . ‘well we don’t need it’, now it would be very much interesting for us to have another [crude] supplier,” he added. “And the Americans need a diplomatic success.”
Borrell's remarks come as Wall Street Journal quoted Western diplomats as saying European officials were preparing for new pressure to salvage a nuclear deal with Iran and their proposal to send Enrique Mora to Tehran was in an attempt to break the current stalemate in the talks.
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