Tehran Negotiations Begin Btwn Iran, EU In Last-Ditch Effort On JCPoA

Wires reporting that negotiations are underway in Tehran between Iranian and EU teams seeking a last-ditch deal on reviving the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPoA).

• Ahead of these talks the mood has been downbeat, with the Iranian Foreign Ministry stating on Monday that a breakthrough is not expected.
• Sara Massoumi at the reformist Iranian paper Etemaad has laid out what she sees as the four potential outcomes from the Iran-EU talks today:
  1. Iran foregos its demand that the US remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTO), in exchange for a demand that is more politically feasible in Washington.
  2. The US puts forward a new proposal to lift the IRGC's FTO designation.
  3. Iran agrees not to target Americans in response to the Trump administration’s 2020 killing of Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. The move would come in exchange for the IRGC losing its “terrorist” designation.
  4. EU fails in its efforts to save the JCPoA.