Top EU Diplomat Praises Iran’s ‘Reasonable’ Response in Nuke Deal Negotiations–Says Ball in US Court

While Iran and the European Union have blamed the US for the current delay, all sides seem to agree that a potential breakthrough is looking more and more likely.

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell told reporters Monday that the ball is in the US’ court following Iran’s “reasonable” response to the EU’s “final offer” for a revived nuclear deal, and seemingly confirmed the Iranian government’s claim that the failure to achieve a breakthrough in recent days is due to stalling by the Americans.

“There was a proposal from me as coordinator of the negotiations saying ‘this is the equilibrium we reached, I don’t think we can improve it on one side or the other’ … And there was a response from Iran that I considered reasonable,” Borrell explained in remarks given at an event in Spain.

The proposal “was transmitted to the United States,” the top EU diplomat noted, but he added the Biden administration “has not yet responded formally.”

In comments which seemed to be aimed at the United States, Borrell continued: “I hope the response will put an end to the negotiations. The world would be a much safer place if we can make this agreement work.”

Mohammed Marandi, an adviser for the Iranian delegation during negotiations in Vienna, wrote in a Monday Twitter post that Borrell’s recognition of the Iranian stance is “a very important statement.”

“The US will make the right decision to reach a final agreement to revive the JCPOA,” he added.

A very important statement by @JosepBorrellF regarding Iran's response to the proposed text. Mr. Borrell points out that Iran's response is reasonable. Hopefully, the US will make the right decision to reach a final agreement to revive the JCPOA. https://t.co/3QvM7i6daC

— Seyed Mohammad Marandi (@s_m_marandi) August 22, 2022

Borrell’s comment came just a few hours after Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, blamed the lack of progress on “procrastination from the American side.”

US State Department spokesman Ned Price quickly denied the claim, insisting that “the notion that we have delayed this negotiation in any way is just not true.” Price instead tried to pin the blame for the delay on Iran for having “responded with several comments” to the EU proposal.

"This is why it has taken us some additional time to review those comments and to determine our response,” Price told reporters Monday.

Still, Price insisted that "a deal is closer now than it was two weeks ago," a development which he said was “encouraged by the fact that Iran appears to have dropped” what he claimed were some of its “non-starter demands, such as lifting the FTO designation of the IRGC.”

Western politicians and media outlets have claimed for months that the removal of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) was a key requirement for Tehran to sign off on the deal.

Per Marandi, that’s not true either. “I've often said over the past few months that removing the Guards from the US Foreign Terrorist Organization list was never a precondition or key demand… But if the US needs to say this to sell the deal, that's their business.”