Iran, European Council discuss resumption of nuclear talks

TEHRAN: Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, have exchanged views on the resumption of the talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal.

In a phone call on Sunday, the two sides discussed bilateral ties as well as the regional and international issues of common interest, including the promotion of multilateralism in the world and developments in Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement published on the website of the Iranian President's office.

On the resumption of the nuclear talks between Iran and the other parties to the deal, Pezeshkian said the existence of trust and safeguarding bilateral interests were the basis for an agreement.

He added that should both sides fulfil their commitments and help build mutual trust, in addition to reviving the nuclear deal, other bilateral issues could be discussed.

Pezeshkian highlighted the necessity to establish a multilateral world order, saying the US "policies towards and pressures on countries such as Iran and its bids to deprive them of their rights and interests were aimed at preventing the establishment of a new world order as well as the restoration of stability and calm to the world".

Iran had always supported ensuring peace and stability in the world and for all peoples and maintained that any trend or movement in any part of the world that jeopardized those values should be stopped, he added.

On the developments in Gaza, Pezeshkian said through enforcing "double standards, the United States and some Western countries had emboldened Israel in its perpetration of acts of terror and heinous crimes" in the Palestinian coastal enclave and West Asian countries, having further compromised peace and security in the region and the world.

The European Council president, for his part, expressed willingness for the resumption of the nuclear talks, hoping for the start of effective interaction between the European Union and Iran based on safeguarding mutual interests and removing obstacles to the expansion of bilateral cooperation.

He also voiced the European countries' interest in improving the level of ties with Iran.

Turning to Gaza, Michel called for observing humanitarian rights, stopping attacks on the enclave, achieving a ceasefire, ensuring extensive aid to Gazans, and recognizing Palestine as an independent state.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. However, the United States withdrew from the agreement in May 2018, reinstating sanctions and prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments.

Efforts to revive the JCPOA commenced in April 2021 in Vienna, Austria, but despite multiple rounds of negotiations, no substantial progress has been reported since the last talks in August 2022.