Washington 0
3 December 2021

The JCPOA’s Joint Commission convened in Vienna, after which EU’s Enrique Mora remarked that “now is the time to consult with capitals… We have substantial challenges ahead, time is not unlimited, there is an obvious sense of urgency”. E3 officials asserted that Iran had during the seventh round “backtracked on diplomatic progress… breaking with almost all of the difficult compromises crafted in months of tough negotiations and is demanding substantial changes to the text”. Iran’s lead negotiator maintained that “it’s true that European parties were not very satisfied with some of our proposals, but these proposals were based on common principles between the two sides”. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that “what we’ve seen in the last couple of days is that Iran right now does not seem to be serious about doing what’s necessary to return to compliance, which is why we ended this round of talks”. “We’re going to be consulting very closely and carefully with all of our partners in the process itself… and we will see if Iran has any interest in engaging seriously”, he added.

Subscribe to Crisis Group’s Email Updates

Receive the best source of conflict analysis right in your inbox.