In an interview with CBS 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl on Sunday night, Raisi said: If it’s a good deal and fair deal, we would be serious about reaching an agreement. It needs to be lasting. There needs to be guarantees. If there were a guarantee, then the Americans could not withdraw from the deal.

Raisi said: You see, the Americans broke their promises. They did it unilaterally. They said that, “I am out of the deal.” Now making promises is becoming meaningless.

Asked about the peaceful uses of nuclear energy for Iran, the president said: Like in medicine, agriculture, oil, gas.

“We have responded to these claims several times. They are baseless. The Islamic Republic of Iran has said many times that possessing nuclear weapons has no place in our doctrine,” the Iranian president noted when asked by Stahl on the allegations that Iran has been working on nuclear weapons.

On the difference between the Trump administration and the Biden administration in Iran’s view, President Raisi said: The new administration in the U.S., they claim that they are different from the Trump administration. They have said it in their messages to us. But we haven’t witnessed any changes in reality. The sanctions are very tyrannical. This is a tyranny against the people of Iran. It is important to us to have the sanctions lifted.

When asked about American citizens detained in Iran, Raisi replied: There are Iranian nationals also imprisoned inside the U.S. These people are only in there because they simply tried to circumvent sanctions. And the Americans, we have told them that we can talk to them about this. It can be conducted separately from the nuclear talks. It can be done between the two countries. It is a humanitarian issue. This can be negotiated.

“No,” Raisi said about the possibility of a meeting between him and US President Joe Biden in New York, adding: I don’t think that such a meeting would happen. I don’t believe having a meeting or a talk with him will be beneficial.

“Do you believe the Holocaust happened,” Stahl asked the president and he answered: Look… Historical events should be investigated by researchers and historians. There are some signs that it happened. If so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched.

“You see, the people of Palestine are the reality. This is the right of the people of Palestine who were forced to leave their houses and motherland. The Americans are supporting this false regime there to take root and to be established there,” Raisi noted.

On the assassination of the General Qassem Soleimani by the U.S. army, the Iranian president said: What the then American government did, by the direct order of Trump himself, to assassinate Mr. Qassem Soleimani, this was a heinous crime. We want justice to be served. We are not going to forget about this.

When asked if this “justice” meant an answer assassination, Raisi underlined: That’s the type of the actions that the Americans and Zionist regimes are doing in the world, we are not going to carry out the same actions.

Meanwhile on Monday and before departure for New York, President Raisi said he has no plans to meet with his American counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Raisi is to deliver a speech at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly later this week.

“There is no plan for talks or meetings with American rulers during the trip,” Raisi said, dismissing speculations, for the second time since last week, about a meeting with Biden.

The trip, however, will include separate meetings with leaders of some countries, according to the president.

Referring his scheduled speech, he said he would openly defend the rights of the Iranian people and highlight U.S.-led acts of oppression against them.

He expressed hope that the trip would be fruitful for “our country and system and the Muslim and oppressed nations of the world.”

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The heads of delegations of Iran and the P4+1 group of countries as well as the U.S. are planning to return to Vienna soon. Before returning to the Austrian capital, Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani briefed the members of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on the latest developments in the Vienna talks.

After the briefing, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, the spokesman for the Committee, said the time is ripe for reaching a good and win-win deal on the condition that the West shows seriousness and goodwill.

Speaking to the Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency (ICANA), the spokesman gave some details about the Tuesday meeting that the Committee members held with Baqeri Kani.

During the session, the spokesman said, a report on the Vienna negotiations has been presented and the questions of the lawmakers have been answered.

According to Meshkini, Bagheri Kani assessed the negotiations process positively and said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is participating in the talks with goodwill and seriousness.

Bagheri also pointed out that Iran and the U.S. have not held any direct talks so far, the lawmaker said.

Meshkini said that the Committee concluded from the session that basically the results of direct negotiations with the U.S. are not clear.

“Although there are signs of progress in the Vienna talks, still there are outstanding issues that need to be negotiated and dealt with,” he said.

Iran is entitled to enjoy full sanctions removal but the other side has so far accepted partial removal of sanctions, the lawmaker added.

Meshkini noted there are indications that the current conditions for a good and win-win deal have been provided on the condition that the West shows seriousness and goodwill.

The remarks came days before the return of Bagheri Kani and other delegations’ heads to Vienna, meaning that Iran is making clear that making further progress in Vienna or conclusion of the talks rest on seriousness and flexibility on the part of the U.S.

Iran has already said that it is in no rush to make a deal, though it prefers to achieve a good agreement as soon as possible. Basically, the pace is not as important to Iran as substance.  Furthermore, some believe Iran is not in urgent need of a deal as much as the U.S.

Despite its obvious need for a deal, the U.S., however, has sought to put the onus of pushing the talks forward on Iran.

In a special briefing on Monday, a senior U.S. State Department official clearly pointed to that. “Now is a time for political decisions.  Now is the time to decide whether – for Iran to decide whether it’s prepared to make those decisions necessary for a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA,” the official said, referring to the Iran nuclear deal by its official acronym.

The U.S. official claimed that the Vienna talks are in “the final stretch” and that the talks “can’t go on forever because of Iran’s nuclear advances.”

The official also hinted at a deadline despite an emphasis that the U.S. is not setting a deadline. “This is not a prediction.  It’s not a threat.  It’s not an artificial deadline.  It’s just a requirement that we’ve conveyed indirectly to Iran and to all our P5+1 partners for some time, which is that given the pace of Iran’s advances, its nuclear advances, we only have a handful of weeks left to get a deal, after which point it will unfortunately be no longer possible to return to the JCPOA,” the official claimed.

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As the senior Iranian officials had repeatedly reiterated, the U.S. and its allies seek come unacceptable demands from the Islamic Republic of Iran that the latter will not give in because once in 2015 trusted the West and saw its result.

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s permanent ambassador to Vienna-based international organizations, reflected on a warning recently issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei about the West’s intention to use the 2015 nuclear deal to enable interference in the country’s affairs.

He referred to the warning issued by Ayatollah Khamenei on Wednesday, during the Leader’s last meeting with the outgoing Iranian administration’s officials.

During the meeting, the Leader cited the administration’s experience of dealing with the West on the issue of the nuclear agreement as an important case in point that had clearly shown “trust in the West does not work and will not work [in the future either].”

Ayatollah Khamenei noted to the outgoing officials how the Western side had been trying — during the recent talks concerning the nuclear deal — to set up a condition in the deal that would turn into an excuse for the West’s subsequent interference in Iran’s affairs.

The Leader reiterated that “trust on the West does not work” and he really is right.

On Thursday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken rudely said that nuclear talks with Iran “cannot go on indefinitely” but that Washington was “fully prepared” to continue negotiations.

The deal was torpedoed in 2018 by then US president Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew from the agreement and imposed punishing sanctions.

“We’re committed to diplomacy, but this process cannot go on indefinitely… we look to see what Iran is ready to do or not ready to do and remain fully prepared to return to Vienna to continue negotiations,” Blinken said during a visit to Kuwait. “The ball remains in Iran’s court,” he noted.

Blinken’s remarks came while it was the U.S. which violated the deal and pulled out of it and the other Western signatories followed the path of their ally the U.S. While the Islamic Republic of Iran should set condition for the U.S. for its rejoin to the JCPOA, it is the U.S. which rudely seeks its excessive demands.

As the Supreme Leader has reiterated the Western countries have even been trying to advance a provision that could pave the way for their meddling in the Islamic Republic’s affairs.

The nuclear deal has its own timetables that ensure implementation of its purposes and the other demand runs strictly counter to the talks’ agenda too.

Therefore, the Iranian side roundly rejected the proposal since this insistence “showed that they still consider the nuclear agreement to be a bridge enabling their interference in irrelevant issues such as Iran’s missile work and its regional affairs.”

Gharibabadi echoed the Leader’s remarks during the Wednesday meeting that such insistence on the part of the Americans had come while they, themselves, had “refused to retrace even one step towards reversing their adversarial stance concerning Iran.”

Tehran would resolutely stand by its assertion that neither the talks nor the nuclear deal are allowed to feature any irrelevant subject matters such as Iran’s defensive missile program or its regional influence.

Now the American paper The Wall Street Journal in a report has claimed that the United States is planning a sanctions campaign against Iran’s defensive drones and guided missiles program, six months after the administration of Joe Biden, who had promised to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal and remove anti-Iran sanctions, assumed office. So the U.S. is to show its true arrogance nature but this time under Biden through increasing pressure on Iran.

The past experience shows that Iran should not trust on the West and it should take a very cautious and wise action against the West’s move and one cannot expect a bright future for the JCPOA because the U.S. excessive demands and its hostile attitude against the Islamic Republic of Iran is the major hurdle in front of any fair deal.

As the Leader repeatedly reiterated domestic programs should in no way be tied to Western states under any circumstances due to the proven failure of such an approach because the U.S. and its allies will not leave their hostile stance against Iran and will not move even one step forward during the talks and for this reason Iran should not retreat any inch from its rights otherwise it will make the West much rude ask for more irrelevant and excessive demands.

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The last-minute discussions, including the International Atomic Energy Agency pushing back a statement planned for Sunday, further underscored the narrowing window for the U.S. and others to reach terms with Iran as it presses a tough stance with the international community over its atomic program. The Islamic Republic is already enriching and stockpiling uranium at levels far beyond those allowed by its 2015 nuclear deal.

Speaking at a news conference Monday in Vienna, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told journalists that came after a discussion with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s civilian nuclear program. He acknowledged that challenges remain, however, as the agency still can’t access images taken by its cameras.

“I’d want to stress this is not ideal,” Grossi said. “This is like an emergency device that we came up with in order for us to continue having these monitoring activities.”

Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s representative to the IAEA, acknowledged the deal at the same time on Twitter. He said Tehran’s civilian nuclear agency, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, would keep the material already recorded by the IAEA cameras.

“We recommend the negotiating countries to seize the extra opportunity provided by Iran in good faith for the complete lifting of sanctions in a practical and verifiable manner,” Gharibabadi wrote.

Meanwhile Iran’s Supreme National Security Council released a statement on the extension of the agreement between Iran and the IAEA until June 24.

“Today, May 24, 2021, the quarterly opportunity regarding the storage of data of surveillance cameras installed in Iran’s nuclear facilities expires,” it said.

Emphasizing the suspension of the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol by Iran in accordance with the law on “Strategic Action Plan to Lift Sanctions and Protect Iranian Nation’s Interests”, the Iranian council announced its decision on the method of cooperation with the IAEA after the expiration of the previous agreement.

“Due to ongoing technical negotiations on the settlement of safeguards issues between Iran and the IAEA, which are being held simultaneously with the Vienna talks, surveillance camera data will be stored for one month as of May 24 to provide the opportunity for further negotiations and reaching a final conclusion.”

Under a confidential agreement called an “Additional Protocol” with Iran, the IAEA collects and analyzes images from a series of surveillance cameras installed at Iranian nuclear sites. Those cameras helped it monitor Tehran’s program to see if it is complying with the nuclear deal.

Western diplomats have said that not extending the IAEA deal could jeopardize efforts to salvage the 2015 accord, which aims to keep Iran from being able to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says it has never wanted to build them.

Iran and world powers will resume talks in Vienna this week on the nuclear deal, which Washington abandoned three years ago and then reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

“I recommend that they use this opportunity, which has been provided in good faith by Iran, and lift all the sanctions in a practical and verifiable manner,” Gharibabadi said.

Iran’s move to curb IAEA access arose from parliamentary legislation widely seen as pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to return to the nuclear pact and lift sanctions.

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The Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refining Company has signed the deals for the construction of 24 centrifugal compressors and a gas processing plant at Ragsefid Operational District.

A signing ceremony was held at the Iranian Oil Ministry on Monday to sign the contracts in the presence of Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh as well as Mahmoud Aminnejad, the CEO of Bidboland Persian Gulf Gas Refining Company, along with the CEOs of the three Iranian firms.

The concluded deals entail construction, installation and commissioning of 24 centrifugal compressors with a value of 75 million Euros with Oil Turbo Compressor Company (OTC), MAPNA Turbine Engineering and Manufacturing Company (TUGA), and a contract for the collection of associated petroleum gas in the Ragsefid operational district worth 90 million Euros with Energy Industries the Engineering and Design (EIED) Company.

OTC is responsible for the construction of 16 centrifugal compressors for Aghajari 5 and Bibi Hakimeh 1 operation units and Pazanan gas pre-compression station. On the other hand, TUGA will build eight centrifugal compressors at a gas collection plant for Bibi Hakimeh 2.

The gas collection plant is aimed at preventing gas flaring, observing environmental considerations, creating value added from collecting the flared gases in the east of Karun River and providing sustainable feedstock to petrochemical companies. To this end, two contracts for “improvement and construction of gas collection facilities” were signed in September 2018 between the National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) and the Persian Gulf Bidboland Gas Refining Company and Maroon Petrochemical Company with a total investment of 1.3 billion dollars.

The $1.109 billion contract with Bidboland Persian Gulf Gas Refining Company includes 27 projects for construction of flared gas collection plants, improvement of existing plants and transfer of collected gas to Bidboland Refinery.

With the implementation of these projects, about 600 million cubic feet per day of associated gases will be collected and transferred to the refinery and about 1.5 million tons of C2 + will be added to the refinery’s feed annually, which is a big step in solving the feedstock shortage of this refinery and the nearby petrochemical plants.

Also, with the implementation of this project and processing of associated gases, about 400 million cubic feet of light gas will be provided to the National Iranian Oil Company on a daily basis, which will be used for injection into oil fields or to supply fuel to the country.

MR/SHANA

News Code 171704

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The deals were signed in a ceremony attended by Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and the Managing Director of Persian Gulf Bid Boland Gas Refining Company Mahmoud Amin-Nejad on Monday.

The mentioned deals cover construction of 24 centrifugal compressors as well as Rag-Sefid’s flare gas recovery station.

As reported, the deals for construction, installation, and commissioning of 24 centrifugal compressors worth €75 million were signed with Oil Turbo Compressor Construction Company (OTC) and Mapna Turbine Engineering and Construction Company (TUGA), while the contract for the construction of the Rag-Sefid flare gas recovery station worth €90 million was signed with Energy Industries Engineering and Design (EIED).

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Zanganeh stressed that gas flaring in Iranian fields is going to be minimized by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2022).

“Collecting flare gas has always been my concern, and we have prepared a serious plan in this regard. With the announcement of the Leader, we became more determined to implement this important program,” Zanganeh said.

In order to achieve a desirable level of environmental protection and sustainable development, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the Oil Ministry have been implementing various programs, one of which is promoting the establishment of flare gas recovery units in the country’s oil-rich regions.

These projects have been defined with the aim of preventing the waste of natural gas, protecting the environment, creating added value, and providing sustainable feed to the country’s petrochemical plants in the mentioned areas.

To this end, back in September 2018, National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) had inked two deals worth $1.3 billion with Persian Gulf Bid Boland Gas Refining Company and Maroon Petrochemical Company.

Also, in June 2020, Iranian Central Oil Fields Company (ICOFC) signed a €125-million Engineering Procurement, Construction and Financing (EPCF) deal with an Iranian company for implementing a project that would prevent 82 million square feet of gas flaring every day.

Back in August 2019, Hamid Chitchian, a former minister who currently advises the government on energy issues, said the country had major projects planned to prevent flare gas waste.

According to Chitchian, at the time about 16 billion cubic meters (over 52 billion cubic feet) of flare gas was burning in the country that could be used for various economic purposes, including power generation.

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“Further escalation at this point serves no one and we strongly believe that there is room for collective diplomacy to succeed,” UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said in a speech in Abu Dhabi, Reuters reported.

He warned against a “false choice” between war and the “flawed” atomic deal.

Gargash said new talks with Iran should not just deal with its nuclear work, but also address its ballistic missile program and regional activities.

These topics mean regional countries would need to be involved in the discussions, he said at the annual strategic debate in the Emirati capital.

Tensions in the Persian Gulf have risen since attacks on oil tankers in vital global shipping lanes this summer, including one off the UAE coast, as well as a major assault on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia.

Washington blamed Iran which has denied the unsubstantiated claim as fabrication.

On Thursday, Iran said it had resumed uranium enrichment at its Fordo nuclear site, stepping further away from its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after the United States pulled out of it in 2018.

The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on Iran since pulling out of the pact as part of its “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran.

The UAE initially backed US President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran but called for de-escalation following regional tensions.

“I believe there could be a path to a deal with Iran that all parties might soon be ready to embark on. It will be long, and patience and courage will be required,” Gargash said.

It was important that the international community be on the same page, especially the United States and European Union countries, as well as regional states, he added.

Washington says the sanctions, which are aimed at halting all Iranian oil exports, will force Iran into negotiations to reach a wider deal.

However, Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has banned Iranian officials from holding such talks unless the United States returns to the nuclear deal and lifts all sanctions.

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The official further said more details of the new attack on the hostile network will be released in the near future.

In another operation in recent months, Iranian intelligence forces dealt a blow to a new network of U.S. spies, according to the official.

A detailed description of the operations and the evidence of activities of the CIA spies in foreign countries will be published after judicial processes, the official said.

“The U.S. espionage network includes a considerable number of professional CIA spies who have received a blow in the recent attack from the Intelligence Ministry of the Islamic Republic and its global allies,” the official said, adding that the spies involved in the case are regarded as “premium sources” by the CIA, because of their close cooperation with the U.S. spy agency and the information they had been providing.

Highlighting the counterespionage activities of the Intelligence Ministry at the international level, the official said Iran uses the “capacities of other allies’ (intelligence) services” in the battle against the U.S.

The official also said Iran’s success to uncover Washington’s international cyber espionage network not only prevented hostile intelligence measures against Tehran, it also disrupted a remarkable part of the global intelligence activities of the United States.

The Americans take advantage of the cyber-space to act against Iran and also to contact their spies across the world through safe communication systems, the official said, adding that Iranian forces managed to penetrate into the U.S. cyber espionage systems, which operate under the guise of social, health or athletic websites.

“Detection of the spies was not confined to Iran alone, although Persian websites were also among those sites,” the intelligence official stated, adding that a number of the spies were identified as Iranians committing treason and cooperating with the CIA from inside the country.

Some of those Iranian nationals were brought to justice, while a number of others were used for infiltration into the U.S. cyber espionage network, the official added.

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 Andrey Kortunov, the Director General of RIAC, believes that JCPOA member states should increase trade and economy ties with Iran to preserve the deal.

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