The G7 group of nations urged on Saturday Iran to benefit from the current opportunity and facilitate the nuclear talks, which have been veering between success and failure for months now.
“It is high time for Iran to seize the opportunity and bring negotiations which started in Vienna more than eleven months ago to a successful conclusion,” said the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, and the High Representative of the European Union following a meeting in the German city of Wangles.
Their statement came after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Friday he had "reopened" negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal based on the outcome of the talks that took place the day before between the EU's coordinator for Iranian nuclear negotiations, Enrique Mora, and Iran's chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri.
“We are committed to ensuring that Iran will never develop a nuclear weapon and we reaffirm our support for a restoration and full implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA),” the G7 ministers said.
They also stressed that a diplomatic solution remains the best way to restrict Iran’s nuclear program, supporting the continued efforts to achieve the full restoration of the JCPoA.
“We urge Iran to refrain from further escalations of its nuclear activities. Escalations carried out over the last 18 months are very serious developments and a matter of deep concern,” the G7 statement said.
The ministers then expressed strong support for the crucial verification and monitoring mandate of the IAEA.
They also reasserted their serious concerns about Iran’s destabilizing activities in and around the Middle East.
“This includes activities related to ballistic and cruise missiles, including transfer of missile and missile technology, and transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles and conventional arms to state and non-state actors,” the G7 ministers said.
Following Borrell’s announcement that he had "reopened" negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said Friday that the US and the EU have missed the opportunity to benefit from Tehran's proven goodwill in the Vienna talks on the revival of the JCPOA.
In a post on his Twitter account, Shamkhani said the Vienna talks have reached a stage where the knot can only be untied through the adherence of the violator party to Iran's logical and principled approaches.
In the past few days, the US had repeatedly announced that talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal are now in the Iranian playground.
Negotiations that began a year ago in Vienna between Tehran and major powers to re-launch the 2015 agreement have been on hold since March.
