US: Nuclear Deal Revival Agreement Is Neither Imminent Nor Certain
The US State Department spokesperson said on Monday, March 21, that an agreement on reviving the JCPOA is neither imminent nor certain.
Ned Price told reporters that Washington is simultaneously preparing itself for scenarios both with and without mutual return to full implementation of Iran’s nuclear agreement.
He stressed that the US is prepared to make “difficult decisions” to return Iran’s nuclear program to the restrictions stipulated in the JCPOA.
These remarks from the American official come as Hossein Amirabdollahian, Iran’s Foreign Minister, said on Monday in a telephone conversation with his Iraqi counterpart that “we are close to the final stage of an agreement.”
He described the remaining issues in Vienna talks for reviving the JCPOA as “minimal” while simultaneously “very important,” and said Iran has “presented initiatives through the EU coordinator” to the United States.
Without referring to the remaining issues, Iran’s Foreign Minister claimed: “Now it is the American side that must demonstrate its claimed good faith in practice.”
Iran and six world powers reached an agreement in June 2015 to limit Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions. However, former US President Donald Trump withdrew from this agreement, known as the JCPOA, in May 2018 and imposed severe sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Iran gradually abandoned its commitments under the agreement a year later and intensified its nuclear activities, including 60 percent uranium enrichment and suspension of the Additional Protocol.
With the arrival of Democrat Joe Biden’s administration in January 2021, nuclear negotiations between Iran and the remaining countries in the JCPOA began directly, and the US indirectly, but despite negotiations reaching a final stage, some unresolved differences remain.
Iran says the US must guarantee it will not withdraw from the JCPOA in the future; an issue that the Biden administration has stated it does not have the authority to decide on behalf of future US governments.
Iran also seeks the removal of all US sanctions, while Washington has stated it will only lift nuclear-related sanctions.
Recently, reports have been published about negotiations between Iran and the US regarding the removal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the US terrorist organizations list.
Three Israeli officials and two American sources told the Axios website that the Biden administration is considering the possibility of removing the IRGC from the terrorist list in exchange for Tehran’s commitment to reducing regional tensions.
Jen Psaki, White House spokesperson, said on March 18 of last year at a press briefing while implicitly defending the idea of removing the IRGC from America’s terrorist list: The current situation has not made the United States safer.
In response to reporters’ questions about the possibility of delisting the IRGC from the US terrorist organizations list, she said: Negotiations are currently underway.
Source: Radio Farda
