West Will Not Obtain More Concessions in Nuclear Talks

Western countries will not be able to wrest further concessions from Iran by signaling an apparent intension to break up negotiations on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, a lawmaker said. 
“Fortunately, Iran has many trump cards at the negotiating table and is seeking to uphold the rights of its nation from a strong position,” said Mahmoud Abbaszadeh, spokesman for the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, which is regularly briefed about the progress of talks.
United States officials have recently expressed pessimism about the possibility of reaching a deal with Iran on restoring the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, expressing readiness to resort to other options. 
US special envoy for Iran said in testimony to Congress on Wednesday that the prospects to revive the deal are “tenuous” at best, and that time is running out to reach an agreement.
Speaking to Tasnim News Agency, Abbaszadeh described such remarks as a show of intending to ruin the talks to force more concessions from Iran.  
He said Iran has always tried to resolve the differences at the negotiating table and seeks a good outcome based on its national interests with or without an agreement. 
“It is the western countries who must stop making extraneous demands.” 
Negotiations have been underway since April 2021 in the Austrian capital Vienna to work out how the United States can return to the nuclear deal, which offered sanctions lifting to Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
The US quit the deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions on Iran who responded by scaling down its commitments. 
Major progress was made over months of discussion, but the talks have been paused for more than two months, appearing to have reached an impasse over a few remaining issues. 
Abbaszadeh said the ball is in the western countries’ court, adding that the US must make important political decisions so that an agreement can be reached. 
“If the western parties are serious and have good faith, we can reach a win-win agreement in less than 24 hours,” he said. 

Main Obstacle

The lawmaker said the US is trying to maintain the basic structure of its sanctions against the Iranian nation, stressing that this is among the Islamic Republic’s red lines.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had earlier said at a the World Economic Forum that there was no tangible difference between the Iran policies of the incumbent US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump who quit the JCPOA and unleashed a maximum pressure campaign against Tehran.  
What has caused the pause in the talks is the economic guarantees, according to the top diplomat. 
“For a return to the JCPOA, Iran’s economic and trade activities should become normal and natural … the main obstacle is that we are not convinced that we, and the people of Iran, are going to benefit fully from the economic gains of the JCPOA.”
He said Iran has left the window of diplomacy open and is serious about reaching a lasting agreement, but underlined that all “elements of Trump’s maximum pressure campaign should be removed.”