A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday the United States is ready to remove all sanctions on Iran’s oil, shipping, and financial institutions.
The remarks by outgoing President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff, echoed previous assertions by officials in Rouhani’s pragmatist camp that Washington is prepared to make major concessions at the talks underway since April in Vienna.
The talks adjourned on Sunday for a break, two days after Iran held a presidential election won by conservative Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian judiciary chief who is on a US blacklist. Raisi is due to replace Rouhani in August.
“An agreement has been reached to remove all insurance, oil and shipping sanctions that were imposed by [former US president Donald] Trump,” Mahmoud Vaezi said, IRNA reported.
Meanwhile, like other western and Iranian negotiators who have said the talks remain a long way from conclusion, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday that Tehran and world powers still had to overcome significant hurdles, Reuters reported.
“We are making progress but there are still some nuts to crack,” Maas told a joint news conference with US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken. Maas said a deal was possible even after the election of Raeisi, an implacable critic of the West.
Fair Distance to Travel
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday there was still “a fair distance to travel,” including on sanctions and on the nuclear commitments that Iran has to make to salvage the tattered deal.
Iran agreed in 2015 to curbs on its uranium enrichment program in return for the lifting of international sanctions. Trump abandoned the agreement three years later, calling it flawed to Iran’s advantage, and reimposed harsh sanctions that hammered Iran’s economy.
Tehran responded by suspending compliance with some enrichment limits, while continuing to insist that it has no nuclear arms ambitions.
Iranian and western officials alike say Raeisi’s ascendancy is unlikely to alter the Islamic Republic’s negotiating position, as Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has the final say on major policies.
Vaezi said the United States had agreed to take some senior Iranian figures off a blacklist.
“About 1,040 Trump-era sanctions will be lifted under the agreement. It was also agreed to lift some sanctions on individuals and members of the Leader’s office.”
US President Joe Biden’s administration aims to restore the deal, but the sides disagree on which steps need to be taken and when to defuse mutual suspicions and ensure full compliance.
Addressing a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Rouhani said the main issues in the Vienna talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal have been settled, adding that it is now possible to have the sanctions lifted right away.
Rouhani said his administration has done a great job by overcoming “the economic war” on Iran, President.ir reported.
Highlighting his administration’s success in bringing the US to the negotiation table in Vienna and in resolving the major issues, Rouhani said if there is a will and if Iran’s top negotiator in the Vienna talks, Abbas Araqchi, is given the necessary authority, the Iranian administration would be able to have the sanctions lifted today.
