Biden Admin Denies Making Major Concessions To Iran

While Jerusalem believes Iran is close to inking an agreement with world powers, and has started preparing for the announcement of the deal, top Israeli officials said on Thursday that the time has come for Western powers to walk away from talks. 

“The Europeans sent Iran a final offer, which doesn’t even meet the demands that the Americans committed to, and established that this offer was ‘take it or leave it,'” said a senior Israeli official at the highest level of decision-making on Thursday, adding that “Iran turned down the offer, and the time has come to get up and walk away.”

“Anything else sends a strong message of weakness,” the official added.

The unnamed senior official, in a briefing to Israeli journalists, also said that the world must now discuss what must be done in order to prevent Iran from abtaining a nuclear weapon.

Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Yair Lapid expressed this message in his phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He also made the case to US Ambassador Tom Nides, and Florida congressman Ted Deutch, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism.

Israel’s National Security Adviser Eyal Hulata will head to Washington, DC, next week to conduct a series of meetings with US officials on the Iran nuclear program.

According to this information, the implementation of a nuclear agreement will take 120 days during which a series of steps will be taken by both sides, including the release of Iranians imprisoned in the United States for violating US sanctions and other acts for the benefit of Iran’s government, and US citizens held hostage in Iran.

Iranian hardliners who are circulating the information call it a list of “concessions” by the United States, but this claim cannot be verified.

They include the immediate release of $7 billion frozen in two South Korean banks and annulment of three executive orders signed by former President Donald Trump after he withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the JCPOA.

Also, Iran will be allowed to sell 50 million barrels of oil in the 120-day period, presumably with the necessary arrangements for receiving the proceeds through legal banking channels.

Currently, Iran ships its oil primarily to China in clandestine ways and it is not clear how much cash it receives and how much of the trade is based on barter.

The legal sale of 50 million barrels at current crude oil prices would generate another $4 billion for Iran in the first 120 days. The oil in question is most probably what Iran has stockpiled, trying to find customers. There were reports in the past that Tehran might have stored up to 100 million barrels both on land and on tankers.

Also, the information circulating says that sanctions imposed on 17 banks will be removed, which would most probably include the Central Bank of Iran. All other sanctioned Iranian banks are either directly owned by the government or are quasi-state banks, some probably also affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

Sanctions will be removed from 150 institutions or entities, again all affiliated with the state or with centers of power such as “charitable” organizations linked to the office of the Supreme Leader and possibly the IRGC. However, not having the list of these entities it is hard to be certain.

One name mentioned is a huge business conglomerate, presented as a charity, directly run by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s office. The entity is called The Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (EIKO), which is known in Persian simply as Setad.

The Biden Administration has been claiming that it will not lift non-nuclear sanctions, such as those imposed for links to terrorism, Iran’s missile program or human rights violations. EIKO was sanctioned on January 13, 2021, days before President trump left office, under the Executive Order (E.O.) 13876, which was imposed for Iran’s regional destabilizing activities and its missile program.

Finally, the information received by Iran International indicates that an exemption will be granted to companies engaging with Iran in case the US withdraws from the agreement and re-imposes sanctions. The duration of this exemption is not mentioned, but it was reported this week that it could be as long as one year.

US Republicans and other critics of reviving the JCPOA under these conditions say that if Democrats lose control of the US Congress, they will derail President Joe Biden’s concessions to Iran.

Stressing that Iran cannot be allowed to endlessly buy time in Vienna, Lapid expressed Israel’s firm opposition to a return to the deal, adding that it was crucial for the E3 — Germany, France, and the UK — to send a clear message that they would make no further concessions to Iran during the talks.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a phone call with his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr al Busaidi, in which he repeated that if Iran’s red lines are respected, a new phase will start in Vienna.

“We will enter a new stage in Vienna Talks once we receive the US response to Iran’s position [submitted to EU mediators on Monday]، if we're assured that we'll reap economic benefits of the JCPOA and our red lines are met," he said. 

Referring to Oman’s constructive role during the negotiations, Amir-Abdollahian thanked Doha's efforts to bring the views of different parties attending the negotiations closer.

According to IRNA, Oman's foreign minister also expressed hope that with the cooperation of all sides in Vienna, a satisfactory outcome will be reached. 

Referring to ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, Haley said the US should, “not shake hands and do a deal with him” as he is “openly trying to execute Americans on our soil.”

She echoed similar remarks by advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which called for designating Khamenei as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under US Executive Order 13224 and other international terrorism authorities.

Underlining that Khamenei is the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Armed Forces, and the country’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) as well as directly in charge of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, the UANI said since Khamenei became supreme leader, the Islamic Republic has “taken multiple foreign citizens hostage,” "ordered terrorist attacks.

UANI mentioned the bombings of Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) and Khobar Towers,” and "attempted mass casualty attacks in Europe where Americans were present,” referring to the failed bombing plot at a gathering of the Albania-based opposition group Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MEK). 

The group also referred to plotted assassinations and attacks against current and former US and foreign officials, including former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and former US Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook, as well as inciting assassinations and abductions against US citizens and permanent residents, including author Salman Rushdie, and Iranian American dissident Masih Alinejad.

Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of the Kayhan daily, the flagship hardliner newspaper affiliated with the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei argued on Thursday that no guarantee by the United States is worth the paper it is written on.

“I would dare to say that no guarantee from the United States is reliable” or valid Shariatmadari wrote, recounting the withdrawal of the Trump administration from the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA.

The ultra-hardliner editor is also Khamenei’s representative at the Kayhan.

As nuclear talks between Iran and the West have reached a critical stage, with the Biden administration reviewing the latest written Iranian response to a European Union text, some Khamenei loyalists continue to make more demands. But Shriatmadari’s article was re-published in most Iranian websites on Wednesday, even those considered to be “reformist’.

Shariatmadari, writing in his Editor’s Note, questioned the value of any US guarantee, a key demand by Iranian negotiators that is still preventing an agreement. Referring to the unilateral withdrawal of the Trump administration from the JCPOA, he said that Washington can again easily renege and abandon any new agreement.

He even fired a shot at foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian for saying that a US verbal guarantee should be presented in writing.

Shariatmadari dismissed this demand, saying that no US guarantee, even endorsed by the UN Security Council, can be trusted.

He argued that the only guarantee for Iran would be wording in the new agreement that it will withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the United States once again abandons a restored JCPOA. He said Iran would be accountable to no one, not even the United Nations, if it decides to leave the NPT.

Leaving the non-proliferation agreement would mean no international monitoring of Iran’s nuclear activities, Shariatmadari said, assuring readers that there would be no consequence for Iran, as article 10 of the treaty allows signatories to withdraw from the agreement.

The Khamenei loyalist also demanded that all US sanctions should be verifiably lifted, not just those imposed since 2018 when former President Donald Trump exited the JCPOA. If sanctions imposed “under hostile and ad hoc labels such as human rights, regional presence or missile program” stay, then it means no sanctions have been removed and new ones can be imposed in the future, Shariatmadari argued.

Since the US presidential election in November 2020, and Biden’s announcement that he would return to the JCPOA, Iran has been demanding the removal of all sanctions, but Washington says it will not lift terrorism and other non-nuclear sanctions.

Iran’s negotiating team “has stood against excessive demands of the rival” so far, but they should “demand the removal of all sanctions in the upcoming agreement,” no matter what their label might be, Shariatmadari said. Otherwise, “Rest assured that practically no sanction can be considered lifted.”