Iran Reports Meeting Held With European Diplomats

Iran’s nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani met European diplomats last week in Oslo, the official news agency IRNA reported Wednesday without details about the talks.

Quoting “several well-informed sources” IRNA said Bagheri-Kani, who is also deputy foreign minister met with foreign ministry directors of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, three signatories of the 2015 nuclear accord known as the JCPOA.

An official from the German foreign ministry confirmed Wednesday afternoon that a meeting had taken place, but said the purpose was "to make our positions very clear in the face of the Iranian escalation in many areas. No, there are still no negotiations, not even on the JCPoA."

The three countries are known as the E3 and participated in long but unsuccessful negotiations with Iran in Vienna, together with Russia and China from April 2021 to March 2022. The European Union that has been coordinating the talks continued discussion with Iran in the following months hoping to bring about a deal to revive the JCPOA, abandoned by the United States in 2018.

These attempts reached a deadlock last September followed by US declarations that reviving the JCPOA is no longer on its agenda.

Europe has also adopted a sharply critical position toward the Islamic Republic on its gross violations of human rights by a deadly crackdown on protesters. Several rounds of sanctions by the EU and the UK have been announced against entities and officials involved in violence against civilians and mass arrests.

IRNA quoting a senior official said that Enrique Mora, deputy to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was also present at the meeting. But Amwaj.media, which also reported about the meeting, later quoted a diplomatic source as saying that Mora was not present.

IRNA also said that there is no information about the agenda of the meeting, but quoted a senior Iranian official as saying that the event was supposed to be a “brain storming” session. IRNA quoted another source who said the meeting was “secret”, which the agency said shows there are still obstacles to renewed negotiations.

The report went on to say, “Although such meetings rarely take place in Norway, but this was not the first time this Scandinavian country, which is not an EU member, hosted talks between Iran and Europe.” It added that a similar meeting also took place a few months ago.

IRNA's report is full of positive references to recent Iranian diplomatic efforts. It seems that Iranian government wants to reinforce positive news about its attempts aimed at ending its international isolation.

IRNA also claimed that the are “signs” about a possible release of US citizens held in Iran, a claim recently repeated by Iranian officials and dismissed by Washington.

IRNA’s report seems more as an attempt to reinforce optimist about Iran breaking out of isolation with mentioning a vague deal achieved with the International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this month when the agency’s chief Rafael Grossi paid a two-day visit to Tehran.

Iran’s economic situation has sharply deteriorated in recent weeks, amid continuing US sanctions, with the national currency falling to historic lows, signaling much higher inflation in the coming months. Tehran seems anxious to make some sort of improvement in its foreign relations and to open the door to more talks with Washington.