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Here is a snapshot of what’s happening with Iran, its nuclear talks and energy markets.

Latest developments

Talks in Qatar this week to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers made little headway, according to the Enrique Mora, the European Union envoy mediating the discussions.

“Unfortunately, not yet the progress the EU team as coordinator had hoped-for,” Mora said wrote on Twitter. “We will keep working with even greater urgency to bring back on track a key deal for non-proliferation and regional stability.”

Iranian media echoed his comments. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said the US didn’t show enough flexibility over Tehran’s need for a written guarantee of economic gains from a new agreement.

The US, led in Doha by Robert Malley, President Joe Biden’s special envoy for Iran, hasn’t commented publicly.

“The incentive for Washington and Tehran to keep the prospect of a deal alive is strong, even as the actual likelihood of achieving a compromise diminishes,” Eurasia Group analysts Henry Rome and Regina Argenzio said in a note. “For that reason, we would expect the sides to resume talks in Doha in the near future, although we are not optimistic about a breakthrough.”

Negotiations in Vienna to restore the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the US exited in 2018, have stalled repeatedly over the past year. The pact curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in return for the easing of sanctions, including on oil exports.

Latest coverage

  • EU’s Mora: Doha Talks With Iran Didn’t Meet ‘Hoped-for’ Progress
  • Iran Nuclear Talks in Doha End ‘With Little Effect’: Tasnim
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  • Iran Risks ‘Fatal Blow’ to Atomic Accord With New Escalation

Oil

Oil was little changed in early trading on Thursday. Prices of Brent and WTI are heading for their first monthly decline since November amid escalating concerns over an economic slowdown as central banks aggressively raise interest rates. US gasoline demand is showing signs of softening just three weeks into the peak driving season, with near-record prices likely encouraging people to stay closer to home.

A renewal of the nuclear deal would likely lead to extra volumes of Iranian oil on global markets, potentially weighing on crude prices.

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