No good choices on the table for U.S. and Iran as JCPOA talks restart
CGTN
On Monday, November 29, talks restarted between Iran and the signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). But while Iran, Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union meet in the same room, messages would shuttle back and forth within another room where the American delegation is based.
The talks are the latest in a bid to get the U.S. to return to the JCPOA, having pulled out of it under former President Donald Trump in 2018, and to get Iran to return to its commitments in the deal to stop the production and stockpiling of nuclear material.
The JCPOA was designed to prevent all of this threat of nuclear weapons. In exchange for freezing its nuclear program, Iran would benefit from the lifting of international sanctions against it. However, that arrangement came to an end with the withdrawal of America, which not only re-imposed sanctions, but added new ones. In retaliation, Iran began enriching uranium.
Despite the restart of talks, though, their prospects are not positive. Having started earlier in the year, expectations of a breakthrough have fallen over time. And the current round of talks – after a nearly five-month pause since the first round – could not be happening at a less auspicious time for the Americans. At the same time, the prospect of no deal will not be ideal for the Iranians either.
