DOHA: Top European Union diplomat Josep Borrell has said Iran and world powers are “very close” to agreement on reviving their 2015 nuclear deal, which would curb Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting tough sanctions.

Then-US President Donald Trump abandoned the pact in 2018, prompting Tehran to start violating its nuclear limits about a year later, and 11 months of on-and-off talks to revive it paused in Vienna earlier this month after Russia presented a new obstacle.

Russia later said it had received written guarantees that it would be able to carry out its work as a party to the deal, suggesting Moscow could allow it to be resuscitated.

Lifting of sanctions on Revolutionary Guards among Tehran’s demands: FM Amirabdollahian

“Now we are very close to an agreement and I hope it will be possible,” the European Union’s Borrell said in an address to the Doha Forum international conference on Saturday.

Tehran has been seeking guarantees that the United States will not unilaterally withdraw from any agreement again.

Meeting with Iran’s chief negotiator

Enrique Mora, the EU coordinator for the nuclear talks, has said he would travel to Tehran on Saturday to meet Iran’s chief negotiator. There are several issues pending including the lifting of US sanctions on its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Saturday that the lifting of US sanctions on the Revolutionary Guards was among Iran’s top demands in talks. “Certainly the issue of (lifting sanctions against) the Guards is part of the talks,” he told state TV.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2022