Posted in: 16/08/2022 – 08:41
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that “the American side verbally agreed to two proposals to Iran” regarding reviving the agreement on his country’s nuclear program, but he considered that Washington should “show flexibility on one (third) issue” to reach an agreement. Tehran sent its final response to the European proposal for the deal on Monday. For his part, US State Department spokesman Ned Price refused to disclose whether his country is ready to agree to the plan presented by the European Union, stressing Washington’s position that the ball is in Tehran’s court.
On Monday, Iran sent its final response to European proposal regarding the agreement on its nuclear program, hours after its foreign minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, announced that his country would present, by midnight, its “final proposals” on reviving the nuclear agreement to the European Union, days after presenting it to Tehran and Washington a formula of a “final text” after Long months of negotiations.
“The American side verbally agreed to two proposals to Iran, and we will send our final proposals by midnight” corresponding to 19:30 GMT, Amir-Abdollahian said during a meeting with journalists at the ministry’s headquarters, according to what was quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
While the minister did not specify the nature of these two proposals, he clarified that “they (the approval) must be converted into a text, and flexibility in one (third) subject,” and stressed that “the coming days are important days (…) in the event that our proposals are approved, We are ready to accomplish and announce the agreement during a meeting of foreign ministers.”
France 24 correspondent in Tehran, Ali Montazeri, said that Iran has withdrawn many of its conditions and accepted the European plan, but stipulated that its return to commitment to the terms of the agreement be gradual if the lifting of sanctions is gradual.
Montazeri added that the conservatives currently ruling Iran, after they had long rejected the nuclear deal, have become open to it because they know that the only way to implement a major program is to lift sanctions.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price refused, during a press conference, to disclose whether the United States was ready to agree to the plan presented by the European Union, saying that Washington would “contact Borrell as requested by the latter.”
He added that “what can be negotiated has been negotiated,” confirming the US position that the ball is in Tehran’s court.
Price stressed that “the only way to achieve a mutual return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (…) is for Iran to abandon its unacceptable demands that go far beyond the JCPOA agreement.”
The “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action” agreement, approved in 2015 between Tehran and six major international powers, allowed the lifting of sanctions on the Islamic Republic in return for reducing its nuclear activities and ensuring the peace of its program. However, the United States unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, during the era of its former president, Donald Trump, re-imposing harsh sanctions on Iran, which responded by gradually retreating from most of its commitments.
Iran and the powers still affiliated with the agreement (France, Britain, Germany, Russia, and China) began discussions to revive it in April 2021, which were suspended for the first time in June of the same year. After its resumption in November, it has been suspended again since mid-March, with points of disagreement remaining between Washington and Tehran, despite significant progress towards achieving the understanding.
The two parties, in European coordination, held indirect talks for two days in Doha in late June, which did not lead to any significant progress.
In early August, the talks resumed in Vienna with the indirect participation of the United States.
After four days of negotiations, the European Union confirmed on August 8 that it had proposed to the two main parties, Tehran and Washington, a settlement formula and is awaiting their “quick” response.
“There is no longer any room for negotiations (…) We have a final text. So it is the moment of the decision: yes or no. That decision came very quickly.”
FRANCE 24/AFP