On Thursday, the US State Department said the US hopes Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi “seizes the opportunity for diplomacy” as the talks to revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, have been stalled since June.
State Department spokesman Ned Price also warned that the JCPOA talks could not go on forever, something US officials have been repeating. “This process cannot go on indefinitely. The opportunity to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA won’t last forever,” Price said.
Raisi took his oath of office Thursday after being formally endorsed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei earlier in the week. The new president is viewed as a hardliner, but has endorsed a JCPOA revival and said Tuesday that he would work to get “cruel” US sanctions lifted, signaling his willingness to continue talks with Washington.
The last round of JCPOA talks concluded on June 20th and have been on hold during Iran’s transition period. The US blames Iran for the delay, but the negotiations started in April and were initially dragged out because of the Biden administration’s refusal to lift all Trump-era sanctions, forcing Tehran to negotiate limited sanctions relief.
During the negotiations, the two sides made additional requests on top of the original deal they could not agree on, according to Khamenei and a German involved in the talks who spoke with CNBC. Khamenei said the US wants to include a sentence to the deal that would obligate Iran to pursue further negotiations with the US over other issues, such as the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program.
“By putting this sentence, they want to provide an excuse for their further interventions on the principle of [the deal] and missile program and regional issues,” Khamenei said last week. “If Iran refuses to discuss them, they will say that you have violated the agreement and the agreement is over.”
The supreme leader said that while the US wants a guarantee for more negotiations in writing, Washington does not want to provide a written guarantee that it would not withdraw from the deal again, as it did in 2018. He said the Iranians are also asking for a verification mechanism to ensure the US provides the sanctions relief it promises, another thing the US does not want to do.
I wonder if the Iranians have a phrase that conveys the idea – “I saw your lips move, but I didn’t hear a word you said – Zionist”
Somethings to always keep in mind.
1. The US always views negotiating as Plan B. Plan A is always violence or threats of violence. If the US is trying to negotiate with someone, it means that violence is not possible at the moment for whatever reason.
2. When the US does negotiate, it is always in bad faith and one should assume the US will breach any agreement as soon as possible. Usually, the US negotiates in order to buy time for a new implementation of Plan A-violence.
That is the Borg saying, “surrender . . .. Resistance is futile.”
It did not work for them either.
Go back to the original deal – problems solved.
“Iran began violating the pact, which gave it sanctions relief in return for curbing its atomic program, in 2019 by conducting nuclear activities that were barred under the deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).”
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-08-05/us-hopes-iran-seizes-opportunity-for-diplomacy-now
The US really likes to play this game. Never mind that:
“Paragraph 36 of the JCPOA states that if one signatory of the pact believes that some others “were not meeting their commitments” under the deal, then, after certain meetings and consultations, it would have “grounds to cease performing its commitments.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/07/trump-iran-jcpoa-enrichment-uranium-deal.html
And also never mind that the US NEVER gave sanction relief. So by all means Iran, please don’t let this opportunity for “diplomacy” slip away.