TEHRAN (Iran News) – After weeks of talks between P4+1 and Iran in Vienna over the fate of Iran’s nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, it seems it is approaching its final stage as Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh has claimed.
On Monday Khatibzadeh has claimed the delegations in Vienna talks are reaching the final stage of the negotiations, which are aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with world powers that was thrown into a state of limbo after US illegally withdrew from the accord and Tehran took remedial measures to reduce its commitments as per the agreement. “We have come a long way so far, but the rest of the way is not going to be an easy path,” he added.
The sixth in-person round of the negotiations in Vienna came to an end on June 20, two days after Iran’s presidential election that resulted in the victory of Ebrahim Raisi.
Six rounds of talks in Vienna have reportedly made progress but yielded no final deal.
The United States and European powers warned Iran last week that its latest uranium-enrichment efforts could imperil those negotiations.
Iran has already announced that the country’s stance on the JCPOA “will not alter with a change of administration.”
“We hope the other parties [to the JCPOA] would be able to make their decisions. In that case, we would achieve an agreement, which would be desirable for all,” Khatibzadeh said.
Khatibzadeh added that all participating delegates believe that good advances have been made in the talks, “but they are also in agreement that some key issues must be first dealt with by higher authorities in their respective countries.”
He added that Iran’s position has not changed since the commencement of the talks in Vienna.
“We demand the removal of sanctions followed by verification before our country restarts fulfilling its commitments. On the other hand, the United States as the violator of the JCPOA, must give necessary assurances [that it will not leave the deal again],” Khatibzadeh said.
Khatibzadeh’s claims come while there are different views in the U.S. and the West which are in contradiction to what Khatibzadeh has said.
The NATO Secretary-General has reportedly ‘re-stressed Allies’ continued calls on Iran to uphold and fully implement all its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and its safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wants Iran to fully implement all its obligations under the JCPOA while the U.S. and Europeans have ignored fulfilling their obligations.
The West and the U.S. should take into consideration this point that the era of hit-and-run and imposing its will on Iran has ended and the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer give in the excessive demands. As the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution has emphasized, the West should fulfill all its obligations and the U.S. should lift all sanctions and after its verification, then Iran will observe its JCPOA obligations.
Unfortunately President Hassan Rouhani’s government has ties all domestic affairs to the fate of the JCPOA but Iran has proved that it can survive the U.S. unilateral and cruel sanctions and now under the principlist President-elect Raisi, it is hoped the country would not give in the U.S. pressure and it will fight for its rights and happiness of the nature without tying the domestic affairs to the fate of the JCPOA.
The West should know this fact that now Iran is ready to be administered by a revolutionary government as it will not play in the game of the West like the current pro-West government. Iranian negotiating team should seal the fate of the JCPOA talks in Vienna and it should avoid prolongation of the talks because prolongation of the talks is what the West wants because it harms the national economy which is waiting for the outcome of the Vienna talks.
Iran will accept to return to its JCPOA obligations only all sanctions are removed; as the Supreme Leader has stressed, removal of the sanctions and its verification is Iran’s redlines and no Iranian official is allowed to ignore it under different pretexts like what happened in the 2015 JCPOA deal which let the West have upper hand to decide unilaterally to leave it without paying its price.
