Europeans have 'serious doubts' on Iran nuclear deal

The European participants in the Iran nuclear talks have "serious doubts" about Tehran's commitment to reaching a successful outcome, placing a question mark against a return of Iranian crude to the open market.

In a joint statement issued on 10 September, the E3 governments of France, Germany and the UK said Iran chose "not to seize" the opportunity presented by EU lead negotiator Josep Borrell's draft deal that, they said, took them to "the limit of our flexibility".

Instead Tehran's "latest demand raises serious doubts as to Iran's intentions and commitment to a successful outcome on the JCPOA", as the deal is officially called. Tehran has requested guarantees over the longevity of any new deal and safeguards against future unilateral withdrawals and, the E3 said, "reopened separate issues that relate to its legally binding international obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its NPT safeguards agreement concluded with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)."

The original deal left out some IAEA enquiries into the nature of Iran's nuclear programme - Tehran denies pursuing nuclear weapons - but UN inspectors have lost access to most of Iran's facilities and Washington has said Tehran's compliance with all of their investigations is mandatory even if the JCPOA did not address them.

"Iran's position contradicts its legally binding obligations and jeopardises prospects of restoring the JCPOA," the E3 said. "The JCPOA can in no way be used to release Iran from legally binding obligations that are essential to the global non-proliferation regime."

Borrell had already said that Tehran's response to his draft deal had led to a divergence in positions, putting the process in danger, and the latest E3 statement adds to the air of gloom around the prospect of success in negotiations that have been ongoing for 14 months. This in turn casts doubt on any timetable for a return of Iran as an exporter of crude into global markets, at a time when supplies of sour grades from Russia are in the process of being cut off by or from several countries in Europe and the Americas.

By Ben Winkley