US, EU top diplomats discuss JCPOA on margins of G7 summit

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on a range of issues on the sidelines of the G7 ministerial in London on Tuesday.

In a statement, the US Department of State said the top US diplomat “reiterated the US commitment to revitalize and raise the level of ambition in US-EU relations”.

The officials also discussed the US-EU Summit to be held in June, the statement noted, beside “ways to deepen US-EU cooperation on shared foreign policy priorities, including Russia, Iran, China, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa.”

Foreign ministers from the world's leading economies are meeting in London this week for their first face-to-face consultations in more than two years.

The G7 group - the world's seven largest so-called ‘advanced economies’ - comprises the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.

Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa have also been invited as guests, with London making strenuous efforts to deepen ties with the Indo-Pacific region.

The meeting, held amid tight Covid-19 restrictions, is expected to finish on Wednesday.

In a separate statement, the European External Action Service said the two sides “addressed the latest developments in the ongoing discussions on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - the Iran nuclear deal - in view of a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the JCPOA.”

The statement further added that discussions also related to EU’s relations with Russia in light of recent military build-up on the border with Ukraine, the health of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, and Russia's actions against EU Member States and sanctions against EU citizens.

In addition, the sides also touched upon relations with China and the situation in war-torn Afghanistan in the wake of Biden administration’s plan to withdraw troops by September 11 this year.

The EU foreign policy chief earlier on Tuesday stressed the necessity of seizing the existing diplomatic opportunity to make the US return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and pave the way for full implementation of the historic agreement.

In a post on his Twitter page on Tuesday, Borrell said he had raised the issue of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) during the ongoing G7 meeting in London.

Pertinently, the former US President Donald Trump abandoned the deal three years after it was inked, followed by reinstatement of sanctions aimed at forcing Iran to renegotiate “a better agreement.”

Iran, however, refused to bow down to the pressure and adopted a “maximum resistance” policy, which includes economic measures to neutralize the sanctions and reduce compliance with the JCPOA.

In recent weeks, representatives from Russia, China, Germany, France, Britain and Iran — the remaining signatories to the JCPOA — have held several rounds of talks in Vienna aimed at salvaging the 2015 deal.

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