Iran Nuclear Talks To Resume In Vienna Thursday

Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told a cabinet meeting that June’s removal of some cameras of the International Atomic Energy Agency was in line with the parliament decision, taken in December 2020 , to reduce agency monitoring to that required by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) rather than the extensive monitoring required under the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

“When the other side is not in JCPOA, we have no reason to abide by a quasi-obsolete commitment,” Eslami said. “The cameras will not go back until they return to JCPOA and stop making false accusations.”

The United States – which left the JCPOA in 2018, imposing ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions – and three European states successfully moved a resolution at the IAEA board in June censuring Iran over what the agency regards as unsatisfactory explanations of pre-2003 nuclear work.

Eslami stressed that following legislation passed in December 2020, Iran had begun using “advanced centrifuges,” devices used for uranium enrichment barred under the JCPOA. “We will not shy away from any action aimed at removing sanctions,” Eslami said.

Agency informed on nuclear expansion

During a press briefing in New York Tuesday evening, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the IAEA director-general, was asked by Iran International’s Maryam Rahmati about Eslami’s statement earlier Tuesday that Iran was preparing new centrifuges, including relatively advanced IR-6s.

Grossi confirmed Iran had briefed the IAEA. “Our inspectors are mobilized and they are going to be looking into this when this happens,” he said. “Not all of them have been prepared – just part of them – and we are going to be informing the Board of Governors soon about this.”

Grossi reiterated that the agency’s “visibility” had been “significantly reduced” by Iran’s decision in June to remove 27 cameras in “certain facilities.” He expressed particular concern over the agency’s lack of knowledge of Iran’s manufacturing activities – where access is not required under the JCPOA. “We will have to come to terms with Iran to account for them when, if and when, they agree on reviving the JCPOA,” Grossi said.

Knowledge of the amount and kinds of centrifuges manufactured, even if not in use, is seen by the agency as important part in assessing the nuclear program, particularly with Iran enriching to 60 percent, close to 90 percent ‘weapons grade’ and far above the 3.67 percent JCPOA limit.

IRGC designation

In Washington Tuesday, John Kirby, the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, in a press briefing largely about the US drone strike killing Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader, in Afghanistan, reiterated President Joe Biden’s commitment not to lift the US Foreign Terrorist Organization’ (FTO) designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as part of negotiations to restore the JCPOA.

Eslami said at the cabinet meeting that the designation had “not been the main issue in the talks.” Disagreements between Iran and the US over JCPOA restoration – both in year-long talks in Vienna paused in March, and in the June round in Qatar – have centered on which US sanctions violate the 2015 agreement. Tehran argues that the administration of President Donald Trump introduced sanctions under various rubrics, including the IRGC designation. as part of its ‘maximum pressure.’

Grossi expressed hope on Tuesday that Tehran is ready to be transparent about its nuclear program, which was “moving ahead very, very fast”.

When asked about the IAEA's role in monitoring any revival of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers under which it curbed its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief, he said Iran must grant IAEA inspectors access “commensurate to the size” of its uranium enrichment program if the agency is to credibly assure that it is peaceful.

“When it comes to nuclear, good words will not do it. What you need to do is to be transparent and compliant and work with us. We are ready and I hope they will be as well,” Grossi told reporters at the United Nations.

“They have a very ambitious nuclear program that needs to be verified in the appropriate way. The program is moving ahead very, very fast and not only ahead, but sideways as well, because it's growing in ambition and in capacity.”

Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami told reporters in Tehran on Mondaythat Iran is technically capable of building a nuclear bomb; a statement that has been made before by at least two other Iranian officials and has been generally taken as a defiant signal from Tehran. President Ebrahim Raisi also reiterated last week that the people of Iran have told him they want to resist rather than sign an agreement with the United States.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jim Risch (R-Idaho) made the remarks in a tweet on Monday, criticizing the proponents of restoring the nuclear agreement despite everything the Islamic Republic is doing. 

“From assassination plots of former US officials, attacks on Americans, to disabling IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) monitors and continued support for regional terrorism... it’s time to walk away from a bad deal with Iran,” he said. 

Recently, media with links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have suggested that Iran may build nuclear warheads “in the shortest possible time” if attacked by the US or Israel. Iran has now enriched enough uranium to 60 percent that if further enriched to 90 percent, the fissile material will be sufficient for a nuclear bomb within a few weeks.

Some Iranian officials have suggested that Iran is a nuclear threshold state but does not want or need a nuclear weapon and is only enriching uranium for energy and other civilian uses. They often add that Iran's Supreme Leader has declared that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are all forbidden under Islam (haram), in a fatwa, or religious edict, first revealed in a statement from Iran to the IAEA in Vienna in August 2005.

On Tuesday, Iranian lawmaker Mohammad-Reza Sabbaghian Bafghi said, "We will ask the Supreme Leader to change his fatwa and strategy on the prohibition of producing nuclear weapons if the enemies of the Islamic Republic continue their threats.”

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Tuesday that “In response to the new US sanctions, we started pumping gas into hundreds of new generation centrifuges. We acted based on the decision made. The Americans shouldn’t think they can get concessions from Iran at the negotiating table with these measures.”

He described it as startling that the US proposed a resolution in the International Atomic Energy Agency while “we repeatedly received goodwill messages from US President Joe Biden through mediators.” 

On Monday, August 1, the US Treasury sanctioned several companies it said were involved in the sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals.

Announcing Tehran’s latest steps beyond the limits of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said on Monday that Iran has started pumping uranium gas into hundreds of IR-1s & IR-6 centrifuges as part of its plan to reach uranium enrichment capacity of at least 190,000 SWU (separative work units), a measurement of efficiency in enrichment. Under the JCPOA Iran was allowed only 6,104 SWU and no IR-6s.

Amir-Abdollahian added that Tehran is reviewing the recent proposals by the European Union to take forward talks over renewing the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The US State Department spokesman has said Washington also is reviewing proposals made by Joseph Borrell, the European Union foreign policy chief.

Monday, August 1, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Naser Kanani said that the next round of the Vienna talks can perhaps start soon. He added that during the past days serious messages have been exchanged and Iran has expressed its views on a proposal by the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

At the same time, Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami told reporters in Tehran that Iran is technically capable of building a nuclear bomb; a statement that has been made before by at least two other Iranian officials and has been generally taken as a defiant signal from Tehran. President Ebrahim Raisi also reiterated last week that the people of Iran have told him they want to resist rather than sign an agreement with the United States.

In an interview with moderate conservative news website Khabar Online in Tehran on Monday, former lawmaker Ali Motahari said that some Iranian officials are misled to believe that maintaining relations with the United States will signal an end to the revolution.

Commenting on Iran’s policy of drawing closer to China and Russia he said, "Looking East is not a bad idea, but it should not be tantamount with distancing from the West. We need to maintain relations with both sides and take advantage of the rivalry between them. However, cutting all ties with the West wound not serve the nation's interests."

Khabar Online wrote that there is a pessimistic mood in Tehran as a result of which no one would be shocked if the government announces the end of the JCPOA. In the meantime, the people, politicians and the media keep criticizing the government and its negotiating team for keeping everyone in the dark about the fate of the talks.

Motahari said that currently neither Iran nor the United States find the JCPOA useful for their interests. He noted that US President Joe Biden no longer has a welcoming attitude toward the revival of the JCPOA as this might adversely affect his situation in the November Congressional election. The war in Ukraine has also changed the international atmosphere, said Motahari, pointing out that the combination of these factors has made decision-making difficult for both Tehran and Washington.

The loyalist followers of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who are currently in charge of the government in Tehran say that they can manage without a nuclear deal with the US, despite crippling economic sanctions.

Motahari said: "Of course the country's economy can be run without the JCPOA, but this will impose unnecessary hardships on the people. We also have to pay more for our imports and get less for our exports. My final verdict is that without the JCPOA it is impossible to have an ideal economy."

Motahari agreed with current lawmakers at the Majles that the government is deliberately keeping the parliament and everyone else in the dark about the state of the negotiations.

Asked if Iran and the United States can have direct talks without the revival of the JCPOA, Motahari said, "With no JCPOA, relations will be more negative and maintaining ties will be even less likely. Apart from that, without the JCPOA, a war against Iran will be more likely because of Israel's provocations. "

He said, "severing ties with Washington was imposed on us following the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979 under the influence of the leftists and possibly the embassy of the former Soviet Union." However, Motahari said, "There is always a chance for maintaining relations if we do away with obsolete slogans."