Ibrahim Raisi: We Have No Hope in Vienna and New York

The President of the Islamic Republic says that Iran’s outlook should be directed toward its neighbors. Russia’s representative reports progress in Vienna negotiations. Several former U.S. officials express concern about a possible agreement with Iran.

On Friday, February 22 (February 11), Ibrahim Raisi stated during a speech marking the anniversary of the 1979 revolution that “we must have a balanced view of all countries, especially our neighbors,” adding that a focus on the West has made the country unbalanced.

He said: “Our hope is in the people of the north, south, east and west of the country, and we will never have hope in Vienna and New York.”

Hours after Raisi’s remarks, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative in negotiations to revive the JCPOA in Vienna, reported in a tweet about a “very useful” meeting with Robert Malley, the U.S. senior negotiator in Vienna nuclear talks, writing: “We are certainly making progress in Vienna negotiations.”

Ulyanov had earlier written that all three working groups (sanctions relief, nuclear issues, and implementation/arrangement) are scheduled to meet on Friday to address outstanding problems.

He previously reported a meeting Thursday evening between JCPOA participants (except Iran) and the United States, writing that parties are to exchange views on the current and “apparently final” stage of Vienna negotiations on the JCPOA.

The Russian representative is not the only official reporting the “finalization” of JCPOA revival negotiations in Vienna.

Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s Foreign Minister, also announced Thursday during a joint press conference with her Israeli counterpart in Tel Aviv that nuclear negotiations with Iran have entered a “final stage.”

Hussein Amir-Abdollahian, Foreign Minister in Ibrahim Raisi’s government, said Thursday that Iran is determined to reach a good agreement, but the timing of the end of negotiations and reaching such an agreement “depends on the will of Western parties to fully commit to lifting sanctions and all parties’ return to their commitments.”

Severe Concern Expressed by Trump Administration Officials Over Possible Agreement with Iran

Concurrent with reports about JCPOA negotiations reaching final stages, criticism and concerns about the U.S. government’s performance regarding a possible new agreement with the Islamic Republic have increased.

Among the latest, Elliot Abrams, former U.S. Special Representative for Iran Affairs, stated Thursday at a session hosted by the “National Endowment for Democracy” in Washington, criticizing the Biden administration, that the current U.S. government claimed it placed human rights at the center of its foreign policy but has not done so regarding Iran.

Morgan Ortagus, former spokesperson for the U.S. State Department under Donald Trump, also said at this session that any of the Republican Party candidates, if victorious in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, would likely once again withdraw the United States from a possible nuclear agreement with Iran.

Referencing reports published in media about the Vienna negotiations process, he predicted that a possible agreement would be “worse than the original 2015 agreement.”

Brian Hook, another former U.S. Special Representative for Iran Affairs, also warned at this session that if the Islamic Republic obtains permission for uranium enrichment through the JCPOA, other countries might also raise such demands.

The eighth round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the countries of Germany, Britain, France, China, and Russia with indirect U.S. participation, aimed at reviving the JCPOA, resumed on Tuesday, February 9 in Vienna, the capital of Austria.

The objective of these negotiations is to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement that former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from in 2018.

The Islamic Republic seeks to lift all sanctions, while the West seeks Iran’s return to all its JCPOA commitments. Iran has gradually abandoned these commitments and has for some time been engaged in uranium enrichment at high purity, contrary to the JCPOA.

Several times, American experts have stated that Iran is only a few months away from achieving the capability to build an atomic bomb.

Source: DW