Right to Nuclear Research Uncompromisable

Iran’s top security official said the country’s right to peaceful nuclear activities along with its security cannot be curbed by any agreement.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani made the remarks in a post on his Twitter account on Saturday, one day after the Biden administration claimed it had waived some sanctions imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump in May 2020 on Tehran.
“Iran’s legal right to continue research and development and to maintain its peaceful nuclear capabilities and achievements, along with its security against supported evils, cannot be restricted by any agreement,” Shamkhani tweeted.
The sanctions relief had allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to carry out non-proliferation work at Iran’s nuclear sites.
The US State Department sent a report signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Congress, explaining that restoring the waiver will help the in Vienna talks, which are aimed at lifting US sanctions.
“The waiver with respect to these activities is designed to facilitate discussions that would help to close a deal on a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA  and lay the groundwork for Iran’s return to performance of its JCPOA commitments,” read the report.
“It is also designed to serve US non-proliferation and nuclear safety interests and constrain Iran’s nuclear activities. It is being issued as a matter of policy discretion with these objectives in mind, and not pursuant to a commitment or as part of a quid pro quo.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior US State Department official claimed the waiver was needed to allow for technical discussions that were key to the Vienna talks in their “final weeks”.
Some observers interpreted the US sanctions waiver as a show merely meant to ease pressure on Washington and launch a new blame game against Tehran.
Trump unilaterally left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran that the deal had lifted. He also placed additional sanctions on Iran under other pretexts not related to the nuclear case as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign.
Following a year of strategic patience, Iran decided to let go of some of the restrictions on its nuclear energy program, resorting to its legal rights under the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of a non-performance by the other side.
The Biden administration had voiced a willingness to compensate for Trump’s mistake and rejoin the deal, but it has retained the sanctions as leverage.
Envoys from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries—Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany—have been holding negotiations in the Austrian capital for roughly 10 months in a bid to resurrect the JCPOA and lift the US sanctions.
The eighth round of the talks has been put on pause as diplomats returned to their capitals for consultations.