End of Qatar Negotiations; JCPOA Remains Unfulfilled

Less than a week after Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, visited Tehran to mediate between the Islamic Republic and the United States with the aim of returning to the negotiating table for reviving the JCPOA and continuing Vienna talks, the parties met in Doha, Qatar, but no clear outcome emerged from these negotiations.

Two American and European officials said in regard to the two-day JCPOA revival negotiations in Doha, Qatar, that the Islamic Republic has no interest in a successful conclusion to the talks, but a spokesman for the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Ministry said: “Bagheri Kani and Enrique Mora will remain in contact.”

A U.S. State Department spokesman, regarding the results of JCPOA revival negotiations in Doha, told the Persian service of Voice of America: “In the Doha talks, like before, we announced our readiness for mutual return and full commitment to the JCPOA based on eighteen months of negotiations in Vienna, but the Islamic Republic again raised issues that were completely unrelated to the JCPOA.”

Stating that apparently the Islamic Republic’s officials have not made a serious decision to either revive or bury the JCPOA agreement, he added: “The European Union’s efforts in indirect talks are worthy of commendation, but the Islamic Republic has still not been able to give a positive response to the European Union’s initiative, and consequently no progress has been made.”

This is while Mohammad Marandi, an advisor to the nuclear negotiating team, says: “Negotiations on remaining disputed issues from Vienna have not failed and will continue.”

In an interview with Al-Mayadeen network, he said: “It was not expected that negotiations would end in just two days with a positive solution. We do not take seriously the media statements of American officials.”

Marandi added: “Americans must provide the guarantees that Iran wants so we can be assured they won’t stab us in the back like before. Europeans today are more interested in Iran because they need its oil due to the war in Ukraine.”

On the other hand, Hossein Shariatmadari, editor-in-chief of the Kayhan newspaper and Ali Khamenei’s representative in this newspaper, in a note stating that Qatar’s America is the same as Vienna’s America, wrote: “The United States and its allies are seeking ‘futile negotiations’ and want to disrupt our country’s economy by conditioning the price of currency and gold and the chaos of prices and dozens of other disorders resulting from the ups and downs of talks. Shariatmadari continued: ‘Our country’s nuclear team has had an exemplary presence in negotiations with authority and intelligence and, unlike the previous government, has not tied all of the country’s affairs to negotiations.'”

The Resalat newspaper also wrote: “Today the discussion about nuclear negotiations exists while Americans have returned to the negotiating table out of desperation, and the reason for their insistence on reviving the JCPOA goes back to three issues: ‘Returning Iranian oil to the energy market, using Iran as a card in congressional elections and presidential elections, and using a possible agreement in Biden’s regional trip.'”

The author of this newspaper further emphasized: “Americans must agree to three logical and rational demands of the Islamic Republic of Iran in upcoming negotiations: ‘Lifting sanctions, providing credible guarantees, and establishing a verification process in a possible agreement.'”

A senior unnamed American official told the Axios website: “In the Doha talks, the Iranian side showed no sense of urgency and focused on old unresolved issues.” He also added: “The Iranian side also raised new issues that have no connection to the JCPOA.” However, he made no reference to the details of the Islamic Republic’s new demands.

Weeks after the sudden halt of JCPOA revival negotiations in Vienna, American officials said: the Islamic Republic has declared the removal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps from the U.S. terrorist organizations list as the main condition for returning to the JCPOA.

On Wednesday, the Noor News website, affiliated with the Islamic Republic’s National Security Council, claimed in a report that the Islamic Republic’s two demands in these negotiations were “cancellation of all sanctions imposed during Donald Trump’s presidency” and “providing assurance from the United States for subsequent governments to remain in the JCPOA agreement.” This website made no reference to the demand for removing the Guards from the terrorist organizations list. The Noor News article was corrected an hour later and the section on Iran’s demands was deleted from it.

The Tasnim News Agency, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, also reported, citing sources informed about the negotiations, that during this round of talks, which took place indirectly between Iran and the United States with the European Union playing the role of mediator and message conveyor, Iran again emphasized the need to reach a sustainable agreement and no result was achieved, a claim rejected by the U.S. State Department.

On the other hand, Enrique Mora, who went to Qatar on behalf of the European Union to negotiate with Iran, in a tweet posted Wednesday night, wrote: In the intensive two-day negotiations in Doha about the JCPOA, unfortunately, the progress that Europe was looking for was not achieved, but we are trying to revive the JCPOA because it is necessary for regional stability.

Source: Voice of America