Iran wants to meet with EU foreign policy chief

The European Foreign Policy Chief speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kyiv, Ukraine on October 12th, 2021. WASHINGTON, Oct 15 : Reuters - EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell said on Friday that Iran wants to meet with EU officials who are coordinating indirect talks between the United States and Iran along with some other parties to the 2015 nuclear deal in Brussels.

Borrell told reporters in Washington that he was prepared to meet with the Iranians, but could not say when that would happen.

I am ready to receive them, if needed, Borrell said, adding that he did not think talks in Brussels were absolutely necessary but that he had to be willing to be somewhat patient on this issue as we cannot afford to fail. Iranian political director Enrique Mora, the chief coordinator for the talks, was in Tehran on Thursday to meet members of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, four months after talks broke off between Iran and world powers.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had so far refused to resume indirect talks with the United States in Vienna on both sides returning to compliance with the deal, in exchange for economic sanctions relief, Iran curbed its nuclear program.

In 2018 President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions against Iran and withdrew the United States from the deal. Since then, Tehran has been rebuilding its stocks of enriched uranium, making it heavier to filter and installing advanced centrifuges to speed the enrichment process.

Borrell said that time is pressing, saying that Iran s new government had enough time to draft and instruct its staff.

We reassess our leadership to go back to the negotiation table. And I don t want to think about Plan Bs because no plan B that I could imagine would be a good one. Western diplomats have said they are concerned that Tehran's new negotiating team under a president known as an anti-Western hardliner, unlike his pragmatist predecessor, may make new demands beyond the scope of what has already been agreed.