As nuclear talks resume, Iran is rattled by protests over water

THE ATMOSPHERE in Vienna is suitably grim. On November 29th diplomats gathered for yet more negotiations meant to salvage the nuclear deal that Iran signed with six world powers in 2015, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The two main parties to the talks, America and Iran, are not talking directly (at the latter’s insistence). Instead, European diplomats act as intermediaries, carrying messages back and forth along frigid city streets made empty and silent by a covid-19 lockdown.

The JCPOA set limits on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of many international economic sanctions. Donald Trump pulled America out of the deal in 2018. Joe Biden was elected on a promise to revive it. This is the seventh round of talks since he took office in January. But it is the first since his new Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, was installed in August after a farcical election that saw most would-be challengers disqualified.