A meeting of the remaining partners in the Iranian nuclear deal produced some progress, but not enough to satisfy Tehran’s demands, Iranian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi said on Friday, offering little prospect for now of the country backing away from a move to surpass a uranium stockpile threshold that could doom the agreement.
A complex barter-type system set up to keep trade with Iran afloat is now active, Araghchi said after meeting with senior officials from Britain, Germany, France, China, Russia and the EU, but he insisted that for the so-called INSTEX system to be useful, “Europeans need to buy oil from Iran, or to consider credit lines for this mechanism.”
Araghchi described the meeting in Vienna, a regular quarterly gathering of signatories to the 2015 accord, as positive and constructive.
He said it was “one step forward” compared with previous sessions, “but it is still not enough, and it is still not meeting Iran’s expectations.”
The 2015 deal was aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. US President Donald Trump last year withdrew the US from the accord and he has imposed new sanctions on Iran in hopes of forcing Tehran into negotiating a wider-ranging deal.
Iran recently quadrupled its production of low-enriched uranium. It previously said it would surpass a 300kg stockpile limit set by the accord by Thursday, but then said it was below the limit on Wednesday and there would be no new assessment until “after the weekend.”
It is a holiday weekend in Iran.
European countries are pressing for Iran to comply in full with the accord, although they have not specified what the consequences would be of failing to do so.
However, Iranian officials maintain that even if it surpasses the enrichment limit, it would not be breaching the deal and such a move could be reversed quickly.
The Europeans also face a July 7 deadline set by Tehran to offer long-promised relief from US sanctions, or Iran says it will also begin enriching its uranium closer to weapons-grade levels.
After Friday’s meeting, several EU countries said they are supporting efforts to keep the nuclear deal alive.
Austria, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden wrote in a joint statement that “aware of the difficulties to implement the economic part of the agreement, we are working ... to establish channels to facilitate legitimate trade and financial operations with Iran.”
INSTEX was conceived in January, but has taken months to activate. It would help ensure trade between Iran and Europe by allowing buyers and sellers to exchange money without relying on the usual cross-border financial transactions.
Senior EU diplomat Helga Schmid wrote on Twitter that the system is “now operational, [with] first transactions being processed” and more EU member countries to join.
Friday’s discussions were constructive, she wrote, adding: “Full and effective implementation of #IranDeal by all sides remains key.”
Araghchi said he will report back to Tehran, which will make further decisions. Of the 300kg limit, he said that “the decision to reduce our commitments has already [been] made in Iran, and we continue on that process unless our expectations are met.”
Asked whether there would be a follow-up meeting, Araghchi said that delegates “decided to have a ministerial meeting very soon,” perhaps in the next few weeks, although a time and place have not yet been determined.
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