By Tyler Durden
The Biden administration wants to wrap up a restored nuclear deal in Vienna prior to the newly elected Iranian president taking office in August (hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi), but naturally Tehran is now looking for a “guarantee” that the US won’t back out again as it did under Trump just three years after the initial 2015 JCPOA was struck.
As talks continue undeterred in Vienna, even after the closely scrutinized Iran election last Friday saw an ultraconservative candidate win in a landslide (also as the Guardian Council prevented a number of reform candidates from running), Iranian negotiators have said that central among “serious issues” being raised is “a guarantee from the U.S. that it wonât exit the accord and reimpose sanctions on the Islamic Republic again in the future,” according to Bloomberg.
Iran’s lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi spelled out in weekend statements, “We need guarantees that give us assurances that a repeat of these sanctions and exiting the nuclear deal, as the past U.S. government did, wonât happen again.”
President Trump broke from the Obama-era deal in May 2018, and through to the very last weeks in office slapped an unprecedented amount of sanctions on the Islamic Republic’s oil, banking, auto, and other vital sectors, including on military commanders and other top officials.
Araghchi warned that lack of such a guarantee that the world won’t see a repeat of a Washington unilateral exit and reimposition of sanctions is needed or else a return to the deal won’t be possible.
Meanwhile, on Monday Iranian President-Elect Ebrahim Raisi weighed in on where things stand in Vienna, saying according to Reuters that “the United States violated the 2015 nuclear deal and the European Union failed to fulfil its commitments, speaking in his first news conference since his victory in Fridayâs election.”
Raisi says he is not ready to meet with the U.S. president to discuss the issues between the countries. A clear and clipped "no." Speaks for itself. He is sticking very closely to Khamenei's views and should be a warning shot to U.S. 5/ pic.twitter.com/HAghF5Af2Y
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) June 21, 2021
“The United States and the EU should fulfil their pledges under the deal,” Raisi urged at a press conference in Tehran.
And separately, Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the status of Vienna negotiations, saying “weâve reached a clear text on all the issues and what remains requires the decision of all parties. Itâs not unlikely that the next round of talks will be the last.”
