Russia’s envoy for the Iran nuclear deal negotiations that have been ongoing in Vienna said parties to the talks need more time before the next round. The sixth round of talks concluded on June 20th, and the negotiations have been on pause since then.
“The #ViennaTalks on #JCPOA will resume as soon as all the participating states are ready for what is supposed to be the final stage of negotiations. This isn’t the case in point yet. Some participants need more time. Looks like we will meet in Vienna not earlier than next week,” Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov wrote on Twitter.
Ulyanov has put a positive spin on the JCPOA talks since they started in April and had previously said he believed the fifth round of negotiations would be the final one. But the US and Iran still appear to be far apart on certain issues, as the Biden administration is still refusing to lift all Trump-era sanctions.
Since the US withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, Iran wants a guarantee that it won’t happen again if the deal is revived. The request is a reasonable one, especially because Iran is already making major concessions by negotiating limited sanctions relief. But the US argues it can’t be done because there is no legal mechanism that would make future presidents bound to the agreement.
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the talks could not go on forever. He also said there were still “serious differences” that needed to be resolved. Iran had earlier said an agreement was reached on the US lifting most major sanctions, but US State Department officials rejected the idea that anything has been agreed.
The sixth round of talks concluded after Ebrahim Raisi was elected to be the next president of Iran, who will take office in August. Raisi is viewed as a hardliner, but he still favors a revival of the JCPOA if the US lifts sanctions. So no matter who is in office in Tehran, the Biden administration will have the power to revive the agreement by lifting sanctions.
As shown in this article, there is a very complicated web which connects Iran’s nuclear program to decisions made by Washington decades ago:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2020/08/washington-and-irans-nuclear.html
Washington’s geopolitical maneuverings often lead to a series of unintended consequences, particularly when it comes to dealing with Iran.
Since the US cannot be trusted, and US law cannot bind future Presidents (they even violate formal treaties with impunity, ask the Native Americans) the real solution is a binding Security Council resolution written to prevent US veto — by making it automatic unless there is a unanimous further resolution to cancel it, as the US tried to do last time to bind Iran.
The US can be bound, by law anyway, as long as other nations are willing to recognize the law against the bully.
If not, then no Deal is possible. That means: get a bomb, and be ready to use it on Israel. That would work.
Typical antiwar warmonger.
The JCPOA was codified as a UN Security Council resolution, binding on all member states. And then the Trump regime decided to ignore its obligations under that resolution. In the absence of an ability on the part of the UN to enforce those obligations, the US will just do what it wants to do, as with treaties.
True, although the “veto-proof enforcement mechanism” was designed and insisted upon by the US, only for use against Iran.
I’m suggesting a reversal of that procedure.
I acknowledge what you say as also true. The only ultimate deterrent is to get the bomb. That is why North Korea and Pakistan got it, and won’t give it up.