Temporary Agreement Not on Agenda of Vienna Talks

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said achieving a temporary agreement on how to revive Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers has never been on the agenda of ongoing talks between Tehran and other signatories of the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Saeed Khatibzadeh made the remarks in a recent online Q&A session with reporters, when asked about the main topics under discussion during the JCPOA negotiations, which take place in the Austrian capital, Vienna, ISNA reported.
“There has never been a discussion on a temporary agreement, but what has been discussed is full compliance of the United States with JCPOA, the method used to verify [US compliance] and then retracting Iran’s remedial steps on JCPOA,” he said.
Khatibzadeh added that there are still many differences on important issues, including the order of steps that must be taken, removal of all sanctions and verification of measures taken, but “I think that all parties have shown enough goodwill to move forward in Vienna”.
Asked whether participants in Vienna talks are compiling a new agreement parallel to the original one, he said, “JCPOA was negotiated once and no new talks will be held on its contents.”

Main Concern 

The senior diplomat said a main concern not only for Iran, but also for other signatories to JCPOA, is how to make sure that the United States will not breach any future promises.
“This is a concern not only for Iran, but for the entire P4+1 [the remaining parties to the deal], because when the US left JCPOA, it not only pressured Iran, but also mounted pressure on European countries to end their presence in Iran. Therefore, all parties are now seeking guarantees” that this will not happen again, Khatibzadeh said.
The spokesman emphasized that the background of US breaching its commitments has made verification of the utmost importance and “it is quite natural for Iran to want to painstakingly verify measures taken by the US”.
“This is why we emphasize that they [the Americans] must return to full [JCPOA] compliance first. We must verify this and make sure that they are not playing with words and will not try to undermine Iran’s foreign relations and trade,” Khatibzadeh added.
The spokesman stated that just as the International Atomic Energy Agency has stressed the importance of objective verification of Iran’s measures, Iran will not accept that sanctions are removed only on paper.
“Therefore, Iran wants to verify the removal of sanctions in practice and see that sanctions have been really removed in various fields, including financial transactions, banking, oil sale, insurance, transportation and any other area related to the US commitments.”

No Hurry 

The spokesman noted that Iran is in no hurry in Vienna negotiations, but at the same time, does not want to get involved in lengthy and attritional talks.
The United States, under former president, Donald Trump, left JCPOA in May 2018 and restored economic sanctions that the accord had lifted in addition to imposing new non-nuclear ones.
Tehran responded to the US non-commitment to the deal with remedial nuclear measures that it is entitled to take under JCPOA’s Paragraph 36.
After a change of administration in the US, new president, Joe Biden, has said Washington is ready to rejoin the deal.
Iran has insisted that it would only reverse its nuclear measures once the US lifts all the sanctions in one step and after Iran verifies that the sanctions relief has actually taken place.
The US has so far failed to meet Iran’s condition.
The diplomatic process started in Vienne on April 6 for ending the dispute over JCPOA. The discussions are set to resume this week.