Vienna negotiations continue on the Iranian nuclear file, amid ambiguity about the possibility of success; The Iranian side talked about Western proposals to reach an interim agreement, while France retreated from its optimistic position of progress.
After eight rounds of talks, sticking points remain over the speed and scope of lifting sanctions on Tehran, including Iran’s demand for a US guarantee of no further punitive steps, and how and when restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities are restored.
Diplomats say Iran and the United States are showing little flexibility on the core issues of the indirect nuclear talks in Vienna, raising questions about the possibility of a compromise soon to renew the 2015 agreement, allaying fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
temporary agreement
The head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian parliament Vahid Jalalzad declared that Washington is not ready to provide guarantees, and only pledges to sign any agreement.
Zadeh said that his country’s strategy is not based on concluding a temporary agreement, explaining that the interim agreement calls for stopping the production of centrifuges and reducing the rate of uranium enrichment, as well as the idea of releasing some frozen Iranian funds.
The Iranian official stressed that Washington rejects a long-term verification mechanism and is talking about a short one, indicating that his country is demanding American guarantees backed by an international resolution from the Security Council.
Regarding US sanctions on Tehran, Zadeh revealed that the United States is not ready to lift all sanctions and is seeking to keep some of them.
The head of the National Security Committee considered that Iran is not optimistic about Washington’s return to implementing its commitments in the nuclear agreement, as it wants to return and exploit the nuclear agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear program, as he put it.
In Iran, too, Ali Reza Elhami, Deputy Commander of the Air Defense Forces in the Iranian army, said that his country’s response will be firm and destructive to any violation targeting its borders or national interests and infrastructure, and that its forces are at the highest levels of readiness.
The Iranian military official also said that those he described as enemies have not yet been able to violate Iranian airspace and important vital installations in the country.
Penalties
Iran insists on the immediate lifting of all sanctions imposed under former US President Donald Trump in a verifiable process. Washington says it will lift restrictions that contravene the 2015 deal if Iran resumes compliance with the deal, meaning it will leave other restrictions such as those imposed under terrorism or human rights measures in place.
Axios revealed that the Biden administration had set the end of January or early February as the date for a decision on negotiations with Iran.
A senior Iranian official said, “The Americans should provide assurances that no new sanctions will be imposed on Iran in the future under any name. We need guarantees that America will not withdraw from the agreement again.”
On the issue of verifying the lifting of sanctions, a stage at which Iran would have to return to restrictions on its nuclear program, the senior Iranian official said that Iran and Washington differed over the timetable.
“Iran needs two weeks to verify the lifting of sanctions (before it reverses its nuclear steps), but the other side says that a few days will be enough to load oil on a ship, export it and transfer its money through a banking system,” he added.
France’s position
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said – in front of the French parliament on Tuesday – that world powers and Iran are far from reaching an agreement to revive the nuclear agreement, and he also expressed his regret for the slowdown in talks, which undermines the chances of finding a solution that respects the interests of all parties, as he put it.
Last Friday, the French foreign minister was more optimistic when he said that the negotiations were progressing “on a relatively positive track,” and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, commented that France had changed its behavior and stopped playing the role of a “bad cop” in the talks.
Commenting on the atmosphere of the talks in Vienna, Abul-Qasim Bayinat, a fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, said in a report published in The National Interest that it has become increasingly clear that restoring the nuclear agreement is a major challenge without ensuring its continuation. .
He added that after a few years after Trump withdrew from the agreement, then launched his maximum pressure campaign against Iran, and Tehran responded by accelerating and expanding its nuclear program, policymakers in Washington and Tehran must ensure that the agreement remains valid for all its parties as long as it lasts, once it is revived.
