If Diplomacy Fails, Pressure Will Increase On Iran - US Envoy To UN
US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield
The US envoy to the United Nations says if diplomacy fails and the nuclear deal cannot be restored with Iran, the international community will increase pressure on the Islamic Republic.
At a press conference Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said on Tuesday that “there’s still a lot more work to be done [on the JCOPA], we don’t have an agreement just yet, and it’s possible we might not get there”. The US is set to take the rotational presidency of the Security Council later this month.
She noted that “if diplomacy does not succeed, then we’ll continue to work very closely with others in the international community to increase the pressure on Iran”.
Thomas-Greenfield stated that some substantial progress has been made in resolving a significant number of the issues necessary for the US to come back into the deal on a compliance-for-compliance basis, and “we’re continuing to work on that effort, and we’ll see where it leads”.
She said president Joe Biden made a solemn commitment that Iran must not be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon, but he also made a commitment that he was prepared to go back into the deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Iran’s foreign minister said earlier on Tuesday that Washington “must correct Trump's illegal behavior with a realistic approach” and take a political step to reach a nuclear agreement, insisting that Tehran and Washington are still exchanging messages through the European Union despite the halt in Vienna talks.
Republican Senator Todd Young has told Iran International that even if the Biden administration manages to restore the nuclear deal with Iran, it will only last until the next president takes office.
“If a deal is cut with this terrorist regime, I want the regime to know that it's highly unlikely that that deal would be honored by a future administration”, he told Iran International’s correspondent Arash Alaei.
He also criticized the current negotiations between Tehran and Washington, saying that “the Iranians refused to back down in their unlawful activities and in their terrorist policies”.
Young also called on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei “to change his activities, particularly his resourcing of terrorists, which has led to the deaths of hundreds of Americans, his continued engagement in unlawful nuclear activities, and his stubborn desire to develop more sophisticated missile technology that can export this regime's terror strategy to even further geographies”.
Iran's foreign minister stressed on Tuesday that Tehran and Washington are still exchanging messages through the European Union despite the halt in Vienna talks.
On Monday, the United States reiterated that it still believes a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) is in its interest, and it continues to pursue the diplomatic path.
Opposition among US lawmakers to a deal restoring JCPOA has gorwn in the past two months.
Iran’s foreign minister told his Irish counterpart Tuesday, that Washington “must correct Trump's illegal behavior with a realistic approach” and take a political step to reach a nuclear agreement.
Talks in Vienna to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have been in limbo since mid-March when Iran insisted that its Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) be removed from the US list of terrorist organizations. The US has not agreed to the demand.
Former US president Donald Trump withdrew from, JCPOA, and imposed heavy sanctions on Iran.
Earlier, Amir-Abdollahian had said negotiations on restoring the 2015 Iran deal have not been paused, noting that Tehran and Washington are in indirect correspondence.
He told Yemen’s Almasirah television network on Tuesday, “The Vienna talks have not been paused, but they continue in another process to remove the unilateral sanctions imposed on us and through the exchange of written messages with the Americans through the EU representative”.
Reiterating that “Removing sanctions in all areas and receiving economic guarantees are among the most important items on our negotiating team’s agenda”, he added that Tehran’s objective in the talks is to reach a “strong” and “permanent” agreement.
Enrique Mora, the senior EU official chairing the Vienna process, has told Iranian negotiators he is ready to return to Tehran to open a pathway through the deadlock, diplomats told the Wall Street Journal. Mora failed to convince Tehran to return to the talks during his March 27 visit.
Iran's foreign minister Tuesday stressed that Tehran and Washington are still exchanging messages through the European Union despite the halt in Vienna talks.
Negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement, JCPOA, have not stopped but continue at another pace through the exchange of written messages with the Americans through the European Union representative with the aim of lifting US sanction on Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian toldBeirut-based Yemeni Almasirah television on Tuesday.
“We urged the American side to be realistic,” Amir-Abdollahian said. “Removing sanctions in all areas and receiving economic guarantees are among the most important items on our negotiating team’s agenda,' the Iranian foreign minister said.
The US State Department Spokesman Ned Price also said Monday that that the EU coordinator of the talks, Enrique Mora, continues to convey messages back and forth between Tehran and Washington. Price, however, declined to comment on whether Tehran has accepted a reported offer by Mora to go to Tehran to break the deadlock in the talks.
"The main issue is the relations between Iran and the US, not the role that Europe can play in the talks … Europe's role is one of a go between. The go between can play a limited role and will not have an effective and decisive role in any negotiations," Nader Entesar, professor of political sciences at South Alabama University told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) on Tuesday.
In what highlighted the Biden administration’s commitment to revive the JCPOA, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Mondaythat the United States will not stand in the way of Russia-Iran nuclear cooperation if the JCPOA is restored.
Iran currently has one Russian-built nuclear power plant and a $10 billion contract with Moscow to build two further power plants in Bushehr.
Opponents of reviving the JCPOA argue that one of the problems with the Vienna talks so far is that Russia is set to benefit $10 billion while it is being sanctioned for its invasion of Ukraine.
Another issue is Tehran’s demand for its Revolutionary Guard to be removed from the US list of terrorist organization. The Iranian foreign minister made no mention of the demand, which currently appears to be the most important hurdle to signing off on a deal to but said the Americans have "perfectly understood Iran's red lines".
US State Department spokesman Ned Price reiterated on Monday that Tehran will have to make concessions on some issues if they want to put demands on the table that are outside the confines of the JCPOA. “That’s just the very nature of any negotiation,” he said in a veiled reference to the IRGC designation.
Price told reporters Monday that the Biden administration will continue dialogue with Tehran via its partners, including the European Union, to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA for as long as a mutual return to compliance would be in US interests.
"If and when we reached the point where the non-proliferation benefits of a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA would not overcome the progress that Iran has achieved in its nuclear program in the past three or so years, that’s when we’ll reassess and pursue an alternative course," he said.
US Department of Defense Spokesman John Kirby on Monday told reporters that the Pentagon backs the government's efforts to revive the JCPOA and prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons. "No problem in the Middle East is easier to solve with Iran having a nuclear weapon," he said, adding that even during negotiations, Iran has continued to develop "certain nuclear capabilities", apparently a reference to Iran's enrichment of uranium to 60 percent purity which has brought it closer to 90 percent purity required for building nukes.
A US-based think tank says data prove that the United States sanctions on Iran work as the Islamic Republic has less money to fund and conduct terrorism.
The CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), Mark Dubowitz, said on Monday that that the abandonment of US pressure under President Joe Biden has boosted Iranian oil sales, economic growth, regional aggression and nuclear escalation.
FDD has advocated a tough US policy on Iran and has opposed the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA.
He added that recent data contradict the Biden administration’s claims that pressure increases Iran’s aggressive behavior, noting that when US sanctions are enforced, Iran spends less for malign activities in the region. Pressure works; weakness invites provocation, Dubowitz tweeted.
He republished a post by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), showing that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recent remarks before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about Iranian aggression being only the result of the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal are “misleading and inaccurate”.
Dubowitz also shared a series of tweets by Gabriel Noronha, former Special Advisor for the Secretary's Iran Action Group in the Trump administration, who compared the Iranian military budget trends against US sanctions since 2013.
The United States has reiterated that it still believes a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is in its interest, and it continues to pursue the diplomatic path.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Monday that “We will continue to forge ahead with efforts, with dialogue via the – via our partners, including the European Union, to seek to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA for as long as we determine that a mutual return to compliance would be in our interests.“
Earlier this year, the Biden administration had said that it would consider the end of February as the latest date it was willing to wait for progress in the talks.
In mid-March, negotiation that started in April 2021 came to a standstill as Iran demanded the removal of its Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from a US list of terrorist organizations. Washington has not agreed to the condition, saying that i tis ready to remove nuclear sanctions, but the terror designation is a separate issue for which Iran has to negotiate over other issues.
Price reiterated that position on Monday. „If Iran wants to seek – wants to put issues on the table that are outside the confines of the JCPOA, Iran will of course have to be in a position to make concessions on those issues. That’s just the very nature of any negotiation.“
Asked if he had any comment about reports that the European Union coordinator in the Vienna talks wants to visit Iran again, Price said the US supports his efforts.
Opposition to retoring the JCPOA has grown in the US, especially rejection of any concession on delisitng the IRGC.
