Iran has clarified that the meetings that will take place in Brussels are not negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said that Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani’s trip to Brussels is intended to continue talks with Enrique Mora, deputy to European Union Foreign Affairs chief Joseph Borrell, that began in Tehran a week ago.
The confusion stems from a closed-door meeting between Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and members of parliament. It’s likely that the source, lawmaker Ahmad Alireza Beigi, misunderstood Abdollahian and inadvertently told the Iranian press that “negotiations with the world powers over Iran’s nuclear program would start” Thursday. The comment was quickly picked up by news outlets.
