The Diplomat
The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ángeles Moreno, received yesterday in Madrid the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali Bageri Kani, who is the main negotiator for Iran in the talks in Vienna to try to reactivate the 2015 nuclear pact, which was left without effect after the United States withdrew from it in 2018.
Bageri Kani’s stay in Madrid is part of a tour of the countries that backed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015 by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China, plus Germany.
On her Twitter account, the ‘number two’ foreign minister confirmed that one of the topics discussed was the nuclear agreement, a pact that, after Donald Trump’s departure from the White House, is being revitalised, with the Iranian objective that US sanctions against the Ayatollah regime can be lifted. Several rounds of talks have already taken place in Vienna and the next has been set for the 29th of this month.
Bageri Kani also took advantage of his stay in Madrid to meet with the Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Spaniard Enrique Mora, who is the EU’s main representative in the Vienna negotiations, and with whom the Iranian deputy minister has already had the opportunity to meet on several occasions.
Beyond the nuclear agreement, according to Ángeles Moreno on Twitter, the meeting with her Iranian colleague served to “strengthen our bilateral ties” and “strengthen our political dialogue”. Moreno added that they also discussed regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan.
The Afghan issue was already present in the meeting held in late September in New York, on the margins of the UN General Assembly, between the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian. At that time, it was reported that Tehran offered to help Spain to continue evacuating Afghan collaborators and their families from Afghanistan.
