Tehran says the current negotiations with the EU over the 2015 nuclear deal are restricted to the implementation of the landmark agreement and will not cover any other issue.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Monday dismissed as “baseless” reports by certain western media outlets that quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that the EU has offered new incentives to Tehran in return for forging a new nuclear agreement, ISNA reported.
“The reports are aimed at creating a smear campaign against Iran and undermining the ongoing negotiations between the Iran and the remaining parties to the nuclear deal,” he said.
US President Donald Trump announced his decision to pull out of the accord— to which Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia are also signatories—and reimpose US sanctions on Tehran on May 8, upsetting European allies with trade interests in Iran that have so far remained committed to the deal.
***Iran’s Rights Must Be Upheld
Iran has said it will remain faithful to the agreement so long as its national interests are upheld.
The spokesman added that as a party committed to the deal, following the unilateral, illegal and scandalous withdrawal of the US from the multi-national agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran will remain in the deal as long as the remaining sides acknowledge its rights under the accord.
“In response to requests from the other sides to remain in the nuclear agreement, the Islamic Republic has made clear that it will remain in the deal only if the other sides explicitly acknowledge and protect Iran’s rights under the JCPOA,” he said.
Qassemi denied as baseless reports on discussions between Iran and the EU on issues other than the JCPOA, stressing that such allegations do not merit attention.
“The significant point is whether or not the other sides will be able to fulfill their pledges under the JCPOA, and this will become clear in the upcoming negotiations,” he said.
***US Plan B
In related news, CNN reported that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will unveil the administration's “Plan B” for countering Iran on Monday, an idea that some critics call a “pipe dream,” while others question whether the administration is coming clean on its goals for the country.
The plan, administration officials say, is to assemble a global coalition to pressure Iran into negotiations on “a new security architecture” that goes beyond its nuclear program.
Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in return for the lifting of western sanctions. One of the main complaints of the Trump administration was that the accord did not cover Iran’s missile program and its regional role that was seen running counter to US policies.
Tehran says it needs its missiles–which are of defensive nature–as it lives in a volatile region that has seen many wars that continue to this day.
***A Pipe Dream
“A bigger, better deal is a pipe dream,” said Robert Einhorn, a former US State Department official and non-proliferation expert who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Speaking at a Brookings event on Iran, Einhorn argued that, “the real objective is not really a bigger, better, deal, the real objective is to put immense pressure on Iran to weaken the regime.”
Einhorn added that, “the not so hidden objective of certain members of the administration is regime change.”
US officials say the White House will aim to roll back Iran's influence in the region through this new maximum pressure campaign. But people close to the administration say the end goal of the new plan seems to vary depending on who is doing the talking.
Officials such as the neocon national security adviser, John Bolton, would be happy to see a pressure campaign end in regime change, while Pompeo belongs to a camp that has felt it might be too soon for that, said a source familiar with the secretary's thinking.
What they hope for is that a pressure campaign could force Iran to pull back from regional activities in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, to focus on domestic stability.
