Iran Seeks Lasting, Reliable Agreement in Vienna Talks

In negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran is after a “lasting” and “reliable” agreement, a senior Iranian diplomat said, dismissing reports of an interim agreement. 
“No accord that lacks these two parameters is on Tehran’s agenda,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday, IRNA reported. 
Iran is holding indirect negotiations with the United States in the Austrian capital Vienna to work out how both countries can resume compliance with the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. 
The US left the agreement in 2018 and reimposed tough sanctions that prompted Tehran to row back on its nuclear commitments in response. 
Iran says it would reverse its countermeasures once US sanctions are completely removed, but also demands verification of their lifting as well as guarantees of non-repetition. 

Khatibzadeh said Tehran needs to make sure that the US return to the JCPOA comes with the needed guarantees and verification that a series of sanctions lifting measures required by the JCPOA are effectively implemented. 
“These will not be achieved through any interim agreement,” he stressed. 
London-based Rai al-Youm had recently reported that the negotiating sides had completed a two-year deal in Vienna, by which the US would lift all sanctions while Iran’s nuclear materials would be transported to Russia.
Based on the report, Russia would serve as the guarantor of the agreement, in that it would return the enriched uranium to Iran in the event of the US leaving the deal as it did in 2018.
A source close to the Iranian negotiating team later rejected the claim, saying “the report is totally wrong and fake,” according to an Iranian journalist.

Realistic View 

Khatibzadeh also stressed that the talks, which are currently in their eighth round, are solely aimed at making sure of the US responsible, complete and verifiable return to the JCPOA. 
“We have not raised and will not agree to talks about any subject beyond the JCPOA in any of our discussions in Vienna,” he said. 
Iran and the US have shared their views through informal paper communication on the four subjects of sanctions lifting, verification, nuclear commitments and guarantees of non-violation by future administrations in Washington. 
“We have not discussed any issues beyond these.”
He said Iran is negotiating with neither an optimistic nor pessimistic view, but with a realistic approach. 
A good, reliable and sustainable agreement can be reached in the shortest time only if the other negotiating sides have the same level of decision-making will as Iran, according to the diplomat. 
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also underlined that Iran is pursuing the talks with reasonable logic and has put forward considerable solutions which indicate its determination.  
“Our clear suggestions are on the negotiation table. The other sides must show good will,” he said on a televised program on Sunday.

Tricky Talks  

One sign of good will Iran has suggested, according to the minister, is releasing part of Iranian assets frozen in foreign banks.  
Nevertheless, in indirect communications with the US, the American side tends to make several demands while conceding one point on credit, Amir-Abdollahian said.    
“We do not seek to drag out the talks, but would not accede to making 10 concessions and winning one,” he said. 
It is, therefore, no simple negotiating table, he added, but the initiatives of the Iranian team have put the process on a good course.
“At the moment, we assess the process as positive and moving forward.” 
Pointing to the standoff purportedly created as a result of the Iranians’ new proposals in the seventh round of talks, the foreign minister said it is the natural right of the new government to revise the agreements made by the previous administration.  
“The previous government’s approach was ruled by haste. We have no time to make a mistake,” he said. 
Following June presidential elections in Iran, a new Iranian delegation took over the talks and put forward proposals that contained reforms to previously agreed drafts. 
This caused a break in the course of the talks before the western parties finally agreed to incorporate the new ideas into the drafts. 
Khatibzadeh also said the western sides wasted time in that round, adding that Iran is not satisfied with the speed at which the negotiations are progressing. 
He stressed, however, that Tehran would not accept any artificial deadline either.