Xinhua News Agency, Tehran, December 27th (International Observation) Iran Nuclear Negotiations: Iran Has Willingness and the U.S. Remains Negative
Xinhua News Agency reporter Gao Wencheng
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Kanani said on the 26th that for Iran, the “dialogue window” for resuming the implementation of the comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue is still open. If the Western parties involved in the Iran nuclear negotiations show the necessary determination, “an agreement can be reached.”
Analysts pointed out that negotiations on the resumption of implementation of the comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue have fallen silent since September. Although the Iranian side has shown positive intentions many times recently, the United States, the initiator of the Iranian nuclear dilemma, has responded negatively, and the prospect of resuming the implementation negotiations is unclear.
Iran is willing to talk
Kanani said that the second Baghdad Cooperation and Partnership Conference held recently “created a good opportunity” for Iran and the European Union to hold talks on the Iranian nuclear negotiations. At the meeting, the two sides discussed the relevant issues of the Iranian nuclear negotiation and concluded that efforts should be continued until the final step is reached.
On June 25, 2022, Iranian Foreign Minister Abdullahyan (right) met with EU Foreign and Security Policy High Representative Borrell in Tehran. (Published by Xinhua News Agency, photo provided by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abdullahyan and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell met in Amman, the capital of Jordan, on the sidelines of the second Baghdad Cooperation and Partnership Conference on the 20th. According to the website of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdullahiyan said during the meeting that Iran is willing to complete the comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue and resume negotiations on the implementation of the agreement based on the previously reached draft results. Abdullahyan also said that in order to reach an agreement, relevant parties should avoid politicizing the issue, adopt a pragmatic attitude and make necessary decisions.
The EU also takes a positive attitude towards resuming the implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement. Borelli said on social media that the two sides “agreed on the need to maintain open communication and resume implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement on the basis of the Vienna negotiations.”
The European Council issued a document on December 12 stating that the EU is still committed to restoring the complete and effective implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement. On the same day, Borelli said in an interview that there is no better option than a comprehensive agreement to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
In July 2015, Iran reached a nuclear agreement with the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. In May 2018, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement, and then restarted and added a series of sanctions against Iran. Since May 2019, Iran has gradually suspended the implementation of some terms of the agreement, but promised that the measures taken are “reversible”. Starting from April 2021, relevant parties to the Iran nuclear agreement will hold several rounds of talks in Vienna to discuss the issue of the United States and Iran resuming their compliance with the agreement, and the United States will indirectly participate in the negotiations. In early August this year, the EU submitted a “final text” to the negotiating parties on resuming the implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement. Iran and the United States subsequently exchanged written views on the text, but negotiations have made no apparent progress since September.
America’s negative attitude
Kanani said on the 26th that the U.S. government’s actions were chaotic and contradictory, with a negative stance, and the actions of the U.S. have led to delays in reaching an agreement. “The ball is on the U.S. court.” Iran is waiting for the actual actions of all parties, especially the U.S. side.
On July 27, 2022, US President Biden attended an event at the White House in Washington. (Published by Xinhua News Agency, photo by Aaron)
In response to the meeting between Iran and Europe on the 20th, John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator of the National Security Council of the United States, said that the United States welcomes the EU to communicate with Iran, but resuming the implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement is not the current focus of the United States.
Analysts pointed out that this statement is in line with the negative attitude of the United States on the Iranian nuclear negotiation issue. If the U.S. side remains indifferent to Iran’s statement on the 26th, then the prospects for resuming the implementation negotiations are hardly optimistic.
Kanani pointed out that the reason why the negotiations failed to achieve results was that the United States wasted the opportunity to reach an agreement under the pretext of holding mid-term congressional elections. The Democratic and Republican parties in the United States have serious differences on the Iranian nuclear issue, which has caused the current dilemma.
The US “New York Times” pointed out that Republicans regard the Iran nuclear agreement as a political stick against President Biden and Congressional Democrats.
Some analysts believe that in addition to partisanship, the United States continues to put pressure on Iran on issues such as human rights and the situation in Russia and Ukraine, trying to mix these issues with the Iran nuclear negotiation issue, which is an important reason for the difficulty in making progress in the negotiations. Iranian MP Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi said that Western countries have been trying to impose their demands on Iran, which will undermine the Iran nuclear negotiations.
Liu Lanyu, an expert on Iranian issues at the Institute of International and Area Studies of Tsinghua University, believes that the prospects for the negotiations are unpredictable, but positive expectations about the negotiations still exist. Iran’s current economic situation is not optimistic and the exchange rate has depreciated sharply. The Iranian government needs to use negotiations to boost public confidence and stabilize social sentiment. Western countries also need to continue negotiations to ensure that Iran does not go to extremes.