Iranian Official Says US Has Made 'Some Concessions' Since March
Washington and Tehran have continued talks on the nuclear issue since March and the US has made some concessions, a member of Iran’s team has told Fars news.
Washington and Tehran have continued talks on the nuclear issue since March and the US has made some concessions, a member of Iran’s team has told Fars news.
“The American position has somewhat changed,” since talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal stopped in Vienna, Mohammad Marandi said in an interview published by the news website close to the Revolutionary Guard on Thursday [July 7].
Marandi, a US-born media advisor to Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, who was in Vienna during many rounds of talks since April 2021 until March this year, argued that “The Europeans and the Americans have high motivation for an agreement as we speak and insist to continue negotiations.”
After 11 months of talks in Vienna all sides were signaling in early March that an agreement was at hand, but suddenly two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine talks stopped without a positive outcome.
Since then, statements by both sides and by observers have indicated that Iran demands the lifting of all US sanctions imposed since May 2018 when former President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of action or JCPOA and began imposing heavy economic penalties on Tehran.
Among these sanctions, the trickiest are those imposed on the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and its web of companies that are closely intertwined with its financial empire.
The IRGC is Iran’s primary military force, but it is also and intelligence organization and has its extraterritorial unit, the Qods or Quds Force that secretly supplies weapons and money to a host of non-state actors involved in terror activities in the region.
Tehran argues that if the IRGC and its companies are not removed from US sanctions list, it will not be able to fully receive the economic benefits of a nuclear agreement. But Washington apparently regards this demand as “extraneous” to JCPOA because these sanctions are not related to Iran’s nuclear program, having been imposed for IRGC’s terror related activities.
Marandi also said that there is a difference in the negotiating positions of the European E3 – the United Kingdom, France and Germany – and the United States. “If the control of the talks were with the Europeans, an agreement would be reached, but the Americans face a lot of domestic opposition to making a deal with Iran, although they also need an agreement.”
Marandi went on to say that President Joe Biden is not popular and his political fortunes in the upcoming Congressional elections in November are not good, while opponents of the JCPOA are very vocal and assertive.
“We should not forget that during the Vienna talks two members of the American negotiating team resigned, because they felt that Iran had received a lot of concessions,” Marandi said, referring to the resignations of Richard Nephew and two other members of the US negotiating team in December over differences with chief negotiator Robert Malley over how far Washington should be willing to go in concessions to Tehran.
Marandi, however, underlined that the US and especially the Europeans need Iran’s oil in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion.
Asked why some in Iran are criticizing the negotiating team for having failed to make a deal with the West, Marandi said, “One group is influenced by Persian-language broadcasts [from abroad] by Western governments and their allies including the Saudi government and their cyber armies, and another group has political motives.”
Recently some Iranian politicians and pundits have criticized Iran’s close ties to Russia and have hinted that the lack of a nuclear agreement with the West is because of excessive reliance on Moscow.
Foremost among those is former lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh who has been blaming Russia for the failure of Iran's nuclear talks with the West.
In several articles and interviews Falahatpisheh has argued that Russia is the main obstacle on the way of the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The immediate trip to Moscow by Iran’s chief negotiator after two days of indirect talks in Qatar with US envoy Rob Malley led to a lot of criticism in Iran by those who resent Moscow’s influence over Tehran and believe Russia is working against a nuclear agreement with Washington.
Criticism against Russia intensified when in March the nuclear talks came to a halt after Moscow demanded exemptions from Western sanction in its dealings with Iran. This was seen by many Iranians as undue interference by Moscow and a violation of Iran’s national interests.
The Kayhan, which is linked to and maintained by the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, asked the lawmaker: "Why do you say Russia has kept the negotiations in suspension? Was it Russia or the United States that violated the JCPOA and withdrew from the nuclear deal imposing 1700 sanctions on Iran?"
The daily further asked: "Is it Russia or the United States that must commit not to break its promises again? Is it Russia or the United States that needs to offer guarantees to Iran?"
In his latest interview, Falahatpisheh, a former member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Relations, told reformist daily Shargh that "the Islamic Republic should distance the nuclear deal from the war in Ukraine. It is only then that an agreement can take place."
Falahatpisheh reiterated that "The meeting in Doha showed Iran is stuck in the quagmire of Russia's war in Ukraine." He further charged that it was Russia's interests that prevented an agreement between Iran and the United States."
"The interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran were totally ignored in the meeting in Doha," Falahatpisheh stressed, adding that "Iran's interests were sacrificed to secure Russia's interests.
"At the same time, other countries, including some of the Persian littoral states were emboldened to intervene in the nuclear talks and all that is a direct outcome of Iran's behavior. But the nuclear negotiations have only two main sides: Iran and the United States," Falahatpisheh said.
The Kayhan claimed that even EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell has said that Russia was not against an agreement between Iran and America in Doha.
The hardliner daily asked, "Why instead of protesting against the United States' treason and admitting that the United States is not after a balanced and useful agreement with Iran Mr. Falahatpisheh levels accusations against Russia?"
The daily then accused Falahatpisheh of serving US interests and suggested that he has been blackmailed by Washington to make these comments against Russia.
Meanwhile, the Kayhan, a staunch supporter of Russia's policies and its war on Ukraine, published an editorial by hardline commentator Sadollah Zarei that Iran should take lessons from Ukraine and never be dependent on other countries; an argument that contradicts the daily's praise for Iran's often unilateral alliance with Russia.
Answering a question by Iran International’s correspondent Samira Gharaei and another reporter at the Tuesday briefing about when the US would conclude that there is no hope for success in the nuclear negotiations, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, "The reason it's impossible to put a timeframe is it isn't based on a political decision, but on a technical assessment of Iran's nuclear program versus non-proliferation benefits of the JCPOA."
US officials have said Iran already has accumulated enough enriched uranium to produce a bomb and critics wonder when the current situation would reach a point for the United States and its allies to walk away for the talks and adopt a different approach. The administration in January had said that the last chance for Iran was sometime at the end of February, and then negotiations broke down in March.
About US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley’s remarks earlier in the day on US waiting for an answer from Tehran, he said, “The answer that not only the US is waiting for, but also that our European allies are waiting for is a decision on the part of the Iranian government to fully return to compliance with the JCPOA.”
“It is not clear to us, based on what we have heard from the Iranians indirectly; from our European allies; that they have made that political commitment. There has been a deal on the table that is more or less finalized for several months now,” he added.
Price said, “In recent weeks and recent months, rather than make that political commitment to return to compliance with the JCPOA, Iran has consistently introduced extraneous demands that go beyond the four walls of the JCPOA.” “To introduce anything that goes beyond the narrow confines of the JCPOA suggests a lack of seriousness, a lack of commitment.”
He highlighted, “We are at a point where a lack of forward momentum, a lack of progress is tantamount to backtracking,” adding that "Current assessment of experts and intelligence community is that the Iran agreement on the table right now is far preferable to where we are now.”
The US has said that that the West made an offer to Iran in December after nine months of talks in Vienna and the ball is in Tehran’s court.
Malley told National Public Radio Tuesday that last week’s Qatar talks between Tehran and Washington had been a waste of time.
Malley said the European Union – whose leading official Enrique Mora acted as a go-between in Qatar – had “put on the table very detailed outlines of what they think a fair outcome would be, and we’ve said we’re prepared to take that deal; the party that has not said yes is Iran.”
Iran’s Hostage Taking Policy
In response to a question about Belgium's controversial treaty on the exchange of convicts with Iran and whether the US is pursuing a different path to handle the Islamic Republic’s hostage policy, Price said the US has a near term goal when it comes to its citizens detained in Iran as well as a long-term goal.
“Our near-term goal is to see to it that those who are at the present moment held unjustly and wrongfully... are released.” The longer-term goal, he said, “is to create and reinforce a norm against this horrific practice; to see to it that the international community speaks with one voice and acts together.” He added that the US is working with allies to lay the ground to achieve this.
Price went on to say the US is monitoring several “egregious cases of Europeans and dual citizens” held in Iran such as Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, adding that “we echo concerns from UN experts that the situation... is truly horrific.”
Numerous people and groups from around the world have warned about the prisoner exchange treaty between Belgium and Iran, warning Belgian politicians against “giving the green light to state terrorism," and demanding that the bill be abandoned.
The treaty by the Belgian government that parliament is debating for approval could lead to the release of Assadollah Assadi, an Iranian diplomat serving a 20-year prison sentence in Belgium for “attempted murder and involvement in terrorism” for his role plotting to bomb a gathering of the exiled opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) near Paris in 2018.
The committee was due to vote on the bill on Tuesday but adjourned the session until Wednesday after nearly four hours of debate. It is likely to be put before the full 150-member chamber on Thursday.