July 16th, 2010 by Farid

According to a recent report, the European Union has agreed to resume talks with Iran in September. However, Catherine Ashton, EU foreign affairs chief, responded to a letter from Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in which he proposed sitting down with the EU, saying that “it follows that issues relating to the Iranian nuclear program must be the focus of our talks, though other subjects … could also be raised.” Meanwhile, as Iran’s economy is in significant decay, the National Iranian Oil Co. has communicated with the EU about its plans of “switching to the United Arab Emirates’ dirham from the euro for its oil sales to Europe to limit the impact of new sanctions [sic].”

The issues of human rights and democracy in Iran so far do not appear to have been placed on the agenda of the resumed talks.

Posted in Iran, sanctions |