Talks in Vienna to try to bring both the United States and Iran back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal were never going to be easy. They might have just gotten even harder.
In Vienna on Tuesday, the signers of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal came together with what would appear to be a simple task. They wanted to restore compliance with an agreement that puts strict controls on Iran’s nuclear enrichment, to ensure that it cannot build a nuclear weapon, in return for the lifting of punishing economic sanctions. Both Iran and the United States insist that they want to return to the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. But nothing about the meetings are simple. President Donald J. Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in May 2018, calling it “the worst deal ever negotiated,’’ and restored and then enhanced harsh economic sanctions against Iran, trying to force it to renegotiate. Iran responded in part by enriching uranium significantly beyond the limits in the agreement, building more advanced centrifuges, and acting more aggressively in support of allies in the Middle East, like Hezbollah, Hamas, Shia militias in Iraq and the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. So returning to a deal made six years ago will likely be harder than many people realize. And what Iran has called sabotage at its Natanz nuclear plant is likely to further complicate the talks. The Vienna talks are intended to create a road map for a synchronized return of both Iran and the United States to compliance with the 2015 deal. It has been at risk of collapse since Mr. Trump withdrew American participation. The accord was the outcome of years of negotiations with Iran. Under the chairmanship of the European Union, Britain, France and Germany made the first overtures to Iran, joined by the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: Russia, China and the United States. But it was not until the United States started secret talks with Iran under President Barack Obama and agreed that Iran could enrich uranium, though under safeguards, that a breakthrough occurred. Even then, the deal was widely criticized as too weak by many in Congress and by Israel, which saw Iran’s possible reach for a nuclear weapon — an aspiration always denied by Iran — as an existential threat. After Mr. Trump restored American sanctions, the Europeans tried to keep the deal alive, but proved unable to provide Iran the economic benefits it was due under the deal’s terms. The American sanctions, based on the global power of the dollar and the American banking system, kept European and other companies from doing business with Iran, and Mr.
