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In an interview with the state-run news agency (IRNA) on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the concerns of European signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal over Tehran’s nuclear progress were unsettled. foundation.
“Their eagerness to return to [Vienna] talks, it is because they think that we could achieve a level of nuclear progress which they deem worrying, “he said, referring to the measures that Iran has taken beyond the limits set by the agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), since former US President Donald Trump left the agreement in 2018 and imposed “maximum pressure†sanctions on Iran.
“More than anything, they want the new [Iranian] administration to sit at the negotiating table, “Amir-Abdollahian said. He insisted that Iran wanted” tangible results “rather than” talks for the sake of talking. “
Vienna talks between Iran and world powers, which began in April and ended in June for the Iranian presidential election and the transition that followed, struggled to agree on incompatible US sanctions with the JCPOA – which President Joe Biden has said he wants to revive – and how Iran’s developing nuclear program can be brought to the limits of the JCPOA.
Biden’s Iranian envoy Robert Malley said last December that the Trump administration had imposed sanctions – ostensibly on issues such as ties to the Iranian leader’s office or “human rights” “-” with the barely concealed intention of making it harder for the Biden administration to return “to the JCPOA.
The European signatories of the JCPOA – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – have seemed increasingly concerned about the greater experience Iran has gained in managing its nuclear program and the increase in its nuclear power. enriched uranium stocks.
People’s interest
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi (Raeesi) pledged during the election campaign that he would support the revival of the JCPOA if it turned out to be in “the interest of the people”. This week, Raisi told the United Nations General Assembly that Iran would curb its nuclear program under the JCPOA if the United States ended “all oppressive sanctions,” which he said would be “crimes. against humanity â€.
Amir-Abdollahian, while insisting that the Iranian administration is still reviewing previous talks, adopted a more assertive tone than his predecessor Mohammad Javad Zarif, who played a central role in negotiating the JCPOA in 2015.
Amir-Abdollahian also played a leading role in explaining the Iranian approach. Zarif, who like Raisi was sanctioned in 2019 under an executive order from Trump over ties to the leader’s office, did not participate in the Vienna talks.
Responding to Amir-Abdollahian saying on Friday that Iran would return to talks “very soon”, US State Department spokesman Ned Price complained on Friday that the United States had no idea what it was. meant. Price said that while the United States stood ready to conclude the talks quickly, “the window of opportunity” to revive the JCPOA was closing.
More dangerous
Joey Hood, the U.S. Senior Assistant Under Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, told Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV on Friday that the talks should include Iran’s missile program and the links with regional allies. Iran insisted on the original logic of the JCPOA, separating nuclear issues from broader regional defense and security issues.
Hood insisted that the US interest in reviving the 2015 agreement was “not indefinite” because “at some point the JCPOA will no longer pass on the non-proliferation benefits that it used to be â€.
Hood insisted that the United States viewed Iran’s nuclear program, the ballistic missile program, and allied support “togetherâ€.
“Iran is engaged in destabilizing and destructive activities, and if it were to acquire a nuclear weapon it would be even more dangerous than before,” Hood said. “We must therefore put the nuclear program back on a clearly civilian track, and we must also ensure that we address these concerns of the international community.”
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