EU Pushes For UN Sidelines Meeting On Nuclear Deal, Iran A No-Show: WSJ

Laurence Norman at the WSJ tweets a thread on failed attempts to facilitate sideline talks at UNGA on the Iran nuclear deal: "In a sign of how hard the Euros were pushing for a P4+1 meeting with Iran at UNGA this week, I understand they had arranged for China FM Wang Yi, who's at home, to dial in by video conference to the meeting. In the end, Russia never confirmed, although one source says Russian diplomats said Lavrov would clear space for a meeting if it was agreed. And the Iranians said no as [observers] have detailed. Significant displeasure at what one called Iran's "no show...It was in Minister's schedule." May also explain why it was tweeted out by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell's office as one of his meetings for the UNGA week only for the EU foreign policy chief to clarify on Monday that it wasn't happening. First time no ministerial Iran Deal meeting at UNGA sidelines in years."

• Since the election of Ebrahim Raisi as Iran's president, there has been very little progress on the nuclear deal. As Norman notes above, the E3 nations (Germany, France, UK) have pushed for talks in Vienna to resume ASAP, but there seems little willingness on behalf of Tehran to return to the negotiating table.