US envoy to visit Israel on Middle East tour as Iran nuclear talks resume
U.S. Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley to visit Israel on a 10-day regional trip that begins Thursday, as the Biden administration struggles to coordinate with Middle Allies -East before the resumption of indirect talks with Iran aimed at reviving their multilateral nuclear agreement.
Malley will begin his journey in the United Arab Emirates before traveling to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The tour will end on November 20, nine days before world powers meet again in Vienna for the seventh round of talks on a joint US-Iran return to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Plan. common global action.
The special envoy “will coordinate our approaches on a wide range of concerns with Iran, including its destabilizing activities in the region and upcoming” nuclear talks, the US State Department said in a statement.
The trip will be Malley’s first to Israel as a member of the Biden administration, although he has met with Israeli officials in Washington on several occasions. Malley – one of the original architects of the JCPOA – rarely agreed with Israeli officials on the issue, given Jerusalem’s longstanding opposition to the deal.
Malley last spoke publicly about efforts to revive the JCPOA last month when he told reporters at a briefing that Iran’s explanations for staying away from nuclear talks in Vienna “s ‘exhaust’.
A few days later, Tehran announced that it was ready to return to the negotiating table at the end of November.
Ready to collaborate with partners during my November 11-20 trip to UAE, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The focus will be on regional issues and negotiations on a mutual return to the JCPOA. https://t.co/WVX5boei0Q
– Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley (@USEnvoyIran) November 11, 2021
Earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman and main nuclear negotiator Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Islamic Republic would continue its actions in violation of the nuclear deal until it was assured that the United States will verifiably lift its crippling sanctions.
A date has been set for November 29 for the resumption of talks in Vienna to save the JCPOA after a five-month hiatus in negotiations that began when Iran elected hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi.
The nuclear talks, which are being negotiated by European Union mediators as Tehran refuses to deal directly with US negotiators, aim to bring Washington and Tehran back to the JCPOA, which was abandoned by former US President Donald Trump. After his departure, the Trump administration slapped Iran with stiff sanctions, mainly targeting its oil exports.
The other parties to the deal – Britain, China, France and Germany as well as Russia – are also participating in the Vienna talks.
US President Joe Biden has said he is ready to join the deal, under which Iran agreed to strict limits on its nuclear activities in return for drastic sanctions relief.
Iran wants all US sanctions imposed after Trump’s withdrawal to be lifted. The Biden administration has said it will only negotiate measures taken by its predecessor on the nuclear program, not measures imposed on other concerns such as human rights.
TV cameras outside the “Grand Hotel Vienna†where closed-door nuclear talks are taking place in Vienna, Austria on Sunday, June 20, 2021. (AP / Florian Schroetter)
Washington insists Tehran must return to full respect for the limits of its nuclear program it agreed to in 2015, and has repeatedly warned that the window of opportunity for a deal is closing quickly.
Iran said on Friday it nearly doubled its stockpile of enriched uranium in less than a month. Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned that his surveillance capabilities in Iran were weakened.
The 60% enrichment is the highest level at which Iran has enriched uranium and is a short technical step to achieve 90% military grade. Under the nuclear deal, Iran was prohibited from enriching uranium above 3.67%.
In September, the IAEA confirmed that Iran had increased its stocks of enriched uranium beyond the percentage allowed in the agreement.
