As the fifth round of indirect negotiations between the US and Iran kicked off in Vienna this week, Iranian officials have had positive things to say, while the Biden administration is downplaying the progress of the negotiations.
Last week, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the US and Iran had agreed on most major issues, and a deal is expected to be reached soon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken disputed Rouhani’s claim in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that aired on Wednesday.
“That would be news to us,” Blinken said when asked about Rouhani’s comments. He went on to blame Iran for the slow progress of the talks. “I think we’ve clarified increasingly what each side would need to do to come back into compliance with the JCPOA, but it remains an unanswered question whether Iran is actually prepared to do what it needs to do to come back into compliance. The jury is still out on that,” Blinken said.
Throughout the negotiations, the US has tried to portray Iran as the difficult party. But the fact is, the US is the party that left the JCPOA and President Biden has the power to restore the agreement at any time by lifting all Trump-era sanctions. But Biden refuses to do so and the two sides have to negotiate what sanctions the US is willing to lift.
In comments to Newsweek on Wednesday, an Iranian official took a more cautious tone than Rouhani when discussing the Vienna talks and hinted that more time might be needed.
“We want to arrive at a good agreement on the steps needed to be taken by the US to return to JCPOA. In so doing, we are in no rush to agree on something that is imperfect,” said Shahrokh Nazemi, the head of the media office of Iran’s mission to the UN.
That interview was sickening. An example:
Blinken: “But here’s what happened since. Now that we’re out of the deal, Iran has started to ignore the constrains that the deal imposed.”
We ignore the actual “deal” while expecting Iran to honor its restraints. Not only does he spend the interview kissing Israel’s ass at every opportunity, he also does his best Pompeo impersonation.
EVERYONE ignores the REAL deal that Iran signed long, long ago. The NPT. Signed by Iran in 1968. Ratified in 1970.
I don’t know why Biden hasn’t picked Bill Maher for any positions, he is a Zionist stooge of Netanyahu.
I just saw what he said. What an ass.
The arrogance is truly sickening. As an American, I feel it; imagine what the Iranians, Chinese, Russians, etc. feel …
What brand of soap does Blinken use to wash his nose after having it in Netanyahu’s *ss?
Same for Biden.
Then again, Trump needed KY jelly for his lips……………..
I read this as part of Blinken’s efforts to back Israel down from more attacks on Iran. There’s been piracy, and nuclear sabotage including cyberattacks releasing radiation, and assassinations inside done Iran.
The Israelis are trying to sabotage this to the point of forcing a US bombing campaign. Trump almost did it but backed down with bombers in the air. Now, would Biden attack Iran in ways Trump refused to do? That is certainly part of what his talks in Israel just discussed.
Before the attack on Libya, Hillary did a European tour to make that happen. It does not seem from anything yet public that Blinken’s tour is like her, to make an attack happen. Certainly in these talks with Israel they wanted him to do it. Instead he talked about aid to Gaza in ways they might accept (no Hamas) and not quite a deal yet with Iran.
He’s walking a tightwire. It is not even clear if he wants to fall.
“That would be news to us” must mean that “we” have not been assured that we will get what “we” want in negotiations as of yet. And the Iranians statement “the U.S. and Iran agree on most major issues” is a strong indication that Iran is quite satisfied with the course of the negotiations. So where does this leave us? Perhaps Blinked is just relaying what Netanyahu is saying to avoid an open disagreement with him on an “open mike”? Do “we”, & our (U.S. interests) really coinside precisely with what Netanyahu demands? No, probably not. But how far our interests lie from Israel ones is perhaps the result of this dicotomy. The real problem is of course again and again that Israel wants Iran to be bound by rules which Israel refuses to sign onto. Even to get what it wants from Iran.
Other than sanctions, a hundred billion or so of Iran’s globally frozen commercial bank funds, and the US importing billions of barrels of Iran’s oil, few obstructions exist.