Deeds must follow words, Germany warns Iran on nuclear talks

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) – Germany warned Iran on Monday that deeds must follow words when it comes to Tehran's pledge to return later this month to the nuclear talks in Vienna.

“We call on Iran to follow up on what it said about the start of negotiations in November,” Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Christofer Burger told journalists in Berlin.

He referred to a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Rome over the weekend during which the leaders of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States expressed their "grave and growing concern" over Iran's nuclear program.

Burger said the meeting in Rome showed "the importance we jointly attach to the full restoration of the nuclear deal with Iran and at the same time underscores the great concern we are faced by Iran's continuing nuclear escalation."

US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said they believed it was still "possible to quickly reach and implement an understanding on return to full compliance to ensure for the long term that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes" and in exchange lift sanctions on Tehran.

They also urged Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to prevent a "dangerous escalation" of the situation.

According to the Western leaders, the situation highlighted the importance of Iran and the United States coming back to the 2015 nuclear accord, commonly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Tehran has agreed to return to the nuclear talks later this month but has not yet set a specific date for the meeting in Vienna.

Berlin has repeatedly warned that time is running out for diplomatic efforts to revive the nuclear deal.

That notwithstanding, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said he remained upbeat on "a positive conclusion" of the Iran nuclear agreement.

Delegations from the JCPOA signatories, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China launched diplomatic efforts in April to bring Tehran and Washington, which abandoned the deal in 2018, back into its fold.

After the June 18 election victory of hardline Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, these negotiations in Vienna were suspended.

In the talks, Iran demands that all Western sanctions be lifted, while its interlocutors seek to reinstate controls on Tehran's nuclear program.