President Ebrahim Raisi underlined Iran’s key demands in talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, saying his administration will not give up on the rights of the Iranian nation.
“Those who reneged on their commitments [under the nuclear deal] must come back and fulfill their obligations,” he said in a press conference on the occasion of his administration’s first anniversary on Monday, President.ir reported.
Iran has been engaged in indirect negotiations with the United States to work out how both sides can resume compliance with the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The JCPOA lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear activity, but the US abandoned the deal four years ago and reimposed tough sanctions, to which Iran responded by rowing back on its commitments.
After more than a year of discussions in Vienna, Austria, the two sides are yet to agree on a few remaining differences to conclude a deal.
A draft text prepared by the European Union coordinator has been reviewed by both Iran and the US, and Washington’s answer is currently under scrutiny in Tehran.
Raisi listed four major demands by Iran which should be included in a possible deal on JCPOA revival.
“We insist that in this agreement, first reassuring guarantees, second, tangible and practical verification, third, removal of sanctions in a meaningful and lasting manner, and fourth, the closure of political claims about safeguards which we deem baseless, must be carried out,” he said.
A complete and practical removal of sanctions plus mechanisms to verify their effectiveness have been among primary requisites.
“Our emphasis in these negotiations is the lifting of sanctions … we have stressed [the need for] verification to earn trust,” Raisi said.
Iran also wants guarantees that no future US government would violate the deal again.
This has been a major stumbling block as Washington argues it cannot give such assurance because the deal is a political understanding rather than a binding treaty.
The final demand that Raisi mentioned was the conclusion of investigations by the International Atomic Energy Agency into uranium particles allegedly found on undeclared sites in Iran.
The IAEA Board of Governors has passed a resolution, drafted by the US, France, Germany and Britain, rebuking Iran for failure to provide credible explanations about the material.
Iran says the data provided to the agency is fabricated and the issue is a political case which is meant to be used in the future against Iran.
“This is a fundamental principle in negotiations, without which speaking of a deal is meaningless,” he said, adding any agreement needs to include the conclusion of the safeguards issues.
The EU draft suggests that Iran address the IAEA’s concerns before the pact takes effect on the “Reimplementation Day”, which would be around one to three months after a basic agreement is reached in Vienna.
The US and the other parties in the talks would, in return, urge the IAEA Board of Governors to close the investigation and nullify an anti-Iran resolution passed in June by the IAEA Board of governors.
US officials have so far said Washington would not put pressure on the agency to close the case, and that Iran needs to provide the acceptable answers that the watchdog requires.
The details of the US response to the EU proposal, however, have not been publicized.
Iran’s review of US answer will continue until at least this weekend, according to Iranian media.
