Iran resumes talks with leaders for 2:20 nuclear deal
(CNN) -
Iran's nuclear talks resumed Monday in Vienna, Austria.
While the United States warned Tehran against further enrichment of uranium and Israel lobbied vigorously against sanctions relief for Iran, Iran announced its "willingness and seriousness" to reach a deal, but only if the United States lifts the sanctions.
The flood of public messages was punctuated by a report from Israel suggesting that Iran is preparing to enrich uranium to the level necessary to make a nuclear weapon.
Two Israeli officials confirmed to CNN the news, first reported by Axios, that Israel had shared intelligence with US officials in recent weeks, suggesting that Iran is preparing to enrich uranium to 90%.
Those reports follow Iran's own announcement last week about its steady march toward larger reserves of enriched uranium.
Some of them are dictated by a law the Iranian Parliament passed last year that ordered the resumption of uranium enrichment to pressure the United States to ease sanctions.
Following the first round of talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the agreement is formally known, the Deputy Secretary General of the European Union, Enrique Mora, told reporters that something has to change, both for the good of nuclear safety as well as for the people of Iran.
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'Nothing has changed'
"We have taken stock of the difficult circumstances of the JCPOA," said Mora.
"In recent months, the Iranian nuclear program has advanced. And at the same time, the United States is imposing the same sanctions. No one, nothing, has changed from the previous administration," he said.
"And that situation points in the direction that we have to bring the JCPOA back to life, both for nuclear commitments and for the benefit of the Iranian population."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Tehran is willing to follow the right path to reach an agreement "if the other side shows the same willingness."
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"The government has shown its willingness and seriousness by sending a quality team known to all," Khatibzadeh told a news conference in Tehran.
"If the other party shows the same disposition, we will be on the right track to reach an agreement."
The two Israeli officials told CNN that Israel had shared information about Iran's activities with the United States in the weeks leading up to the resumption of talks on Monday.
These had stalled after six rounds of negotiations for almost six months.
The European Union, France, Germany, China and Russia are meeting directly with the Iranians, without the United States in the room.
US diplomats are participating indirectly, meeting with allies afterward to learn what was discussed and to weigh in on their positions.
It is unclear whether the new Israeli report will complicate matters.
Israeli intelligence suggests that Iran is taking technical measures that would allow it to enrich uranium up to 90% purity.
Iran has been openly making efforts to increase its stocks of enriched uranium.
In an apparent effort to gain influence in Vienna, Iran announced on Friday that it had increased its arsenal of 20% enriched uranium, just days after announcing that its stock of 60% enriched uranium had risen to 66 pounds (30 kilograms).
According to the Arms Control Association, enriching uranium to 20% "constitutes about 90% of the work necessary to enrich it to weapons grade."
Iran's uranium enrichment was limited under the nuclear deal, from which then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US in May 2018. Now, as Iran's reserves grow, the Arms Control Association says that Iran's breakdown time (which it would take to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb) is decreasing.
The association estimates that Iran's current break-up time is likely to be around a month, less than the 12 months when the nuclear deal was fully implemented.
But it is not clear that Iran has the other infrastructure necessary to build a bomb, and Iran has also consistently said that it does not aim to build a nuclear weapon.
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'Provocative act'
Principal Deputy State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter declined to comment directly on the reports.
But he said Monday that enrichment to 90% purity would be a "provocative act."
"We have made it clear that Iran's continued nuclear escalations are not constructive," he said during a conference call with reporters.
"They are also a work inconsistent with what is stated in the goal of returning to mutual compliance with the JCPOA."
"They will not provide Iran with any negotiating leverage when we return to the talks," Porter said.
The White House declined to comment on the matter.
"We will not comment on intelligence matters. But it is no secret that the previous administration's decision to leave the JCPOA led to an unprecedented and dramatic acceleration of Iran's nuclear program. This includes advanced enrichment activities, as recently confirmed." the International Atomic Energy Agency, said a senior administration official.
By sending an administration official to Vienna this week, the Biden administration followed through on its promise to continue engaging in diplomacy in an effort to save the Iran deal.
At the beginning of the talks, the United States also said it is "prepared to use other options" if the negotiations fail.
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'Nuclear blackmail'
Meanwhile, as nuclear talks with Iran resumed, Israel aimed its diplomatic firepower at the prospect of a possible interim deal with Tehran that would see sanctions lifted in exchange for a partial freeze on Iran's nuclear program.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, in a video message in English, said the United States and its partners must not give in to what he called "Iran's nuclear blackmail."
"Despite Iran's violations and undermining of nuclear inspections, Iran will come to the negotiating table in Vienna. And there are those who think they deserve to have their sanctions lifted and hundreds of billions of dollars to be poured directly into their rotten regime. They are wrong, "he said.
"Iran does not deserve rewards, negotiating agreements or sanctions relief in exchange for its brutality."
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, on a visit to Britain and France, two countries participating in the Vienna talks, echoed that message in London.
The day before the talks began, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister and chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani laid out Iran's message in a Financial Times op-ed.
His first objective: "To achieve a total, guaranteed and verifiable elimination of the sanctions imposed on the Iranian people. Without this," Bagheri said, "the process will continue indefinitely."
Mostafa Salem and Celine Alkhaldi of CNN in Abu Dhabi and Andrew Carey and Amir Tal in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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