US officials and signatories of the Iran deal to meet in Vienna next week

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The United States, along with other signatories to the Iran nuclear deal, will meet in Vienna next week in an attempt to bring the US and Iran back into compliance with the 2015 agreement.

After Friday’s virtual meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), high-level officials from the EU, China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Iran said they were ready to welcome the US back to the JCPOA, and “emphasized their commitment to preserve the deal and discussed modalities to ensure the return to its full and effective implementation,” the meeting statement says.

Next week’s follow-up talks in Vienna are scheduled “in order to clearly identify sanctions lifting and nuclear implementation measures,” but there are no plans for direct discussions between US and Iranian officials.

Former President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the JCPOA in 2018, which placed strict, yet temporary limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in lieu of suspending international economic sanctions. Rejoining the agreement is a priority for the Biden administration, but there is no agreement on the conditions and timing for that to happen.

What the world is following

In eastern Taiwan, a fatal train crash has claimed the lives of at least 48 people on Friday, and at least 100 others were injured, making it Taiwan’s deadliest rail disaster. When a construction truck knocked the train off its tracks, passengers had to climb out of windows and walk along the roof to reach safety. The crash occurred on the first day of a long holiday weekend in Taiwan, when many were using the country’s extensive railway system. At least 400 people were on the train when the truck hit the train. There were no immediate arrests and an investigation will be launched.

And, in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, a UN humanitarian official warned Thursday of an ongoing crisis, pointing to targeted mass killings, over 500 recent rape cases, forced displacement, rampant looting, and famine. UN official Wafaa Said, who spent 2 1/2 months in the conflict-torn region, said the impact is hard to measure because of blacked-out communications in large parts of the area. The crisis led to a full-on war in November, after tensions mounted between the federal government and regional Tigray leaders. Fierce fighting reportedly continues despite earlier declarations that the federal army was in “full control” of Tigray.

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