Iran Plays Down Nuclear Negotiator’s Trip Home For Consultation

"We wonder whether the western side can adopt a realistic approach to go through the remaining points of the talks,” Amir-Abdollahian told a news conference alongside his Omani counterpart Badr Albusaidi in Tehran.

Oman has several times facilitated Iran-United States contacts, including ‘back door’ talks before open talks led to the 2015 JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), the nuclear agreement that current Vienna talks seek to revive after US withdrawal in 2018.

Muscat has also operated as a channel for discussions over prisoner releases. There has been growing speculation, fed by US Iran ‘special envoy’ Rob Malley and a Reuters story citing Iranian officials, that Tehran and Washington are preparing a prisoner exchange as an adjunct to the Vienna talks.

Amir-Abdollahian said he had underlined to Josep Borrell, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, during the recent Munich Security Conference that Tehran was set on securing guarantees that the US would uphold commitments to restore the JCPOA and would lift ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions imposed since Washington left the deal in 2018.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s lead negotiator in Vienna, tweeted Tuesday that the talks were near concluding. Both United Kingdom lead negotiator Stephanie Al-Qaq and Enrique Mora, the EU official chairing the talks, said that crucial issues remained to be agreed.

In an interview with Euronews on Tuesday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the agreement could be reached in a matter of hours, but also warned again that some of Iran’s “red lines” remained, reiterating that “We’ve never been so close to such a deal”.

When asked to explain about Iran’s “seriousness and initiatives” at the Vienna Talks, Amir-Abdollahian, said, “we need to make sure there’s harmony between how we’re negotiating in Vienna and the realistic approach of Dr. Raisi’s government”.

“We do not believe that Iran is an isolated country. Unilateral and unlawful US sanctions have led to some problems for us. Inaction since 2015, especially from three European countries…has caused some problems for Iran. But despite all their efforts…the isolation of Iran hasn’t happened”, he added.

Commenting on the issue of a prisoner swap with the West, he described the dual-nationals held by Iran as spies, saying, “We’ve announced that we’re ready, either outside the Vienna talks or alongside them, to exchange prisoners when the other side is ready. We consider this to be a 100% humanitarian issue. We don’t see any necessity to link this humanitarian dossier to the Vienna Talks.”

Iran has arrested several Westerners and dual citizens of Iranian descent on trumped-up charges, described by international human rights organizations as hostage taking.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, made the remarks on Tuesday as top diplomats engaged in the Vienna talks say the negotiations are nearing the finish line.

“Peaceful capability of Iran's nuclear program must always remain like the sword of Damocles above the heads of violators as a real guarantee for fulfillment of their obligations”, Shamkhani tweeted.

“After US withdrawal from JCPOA in 2018, it was better to use this inherent guarantee more effectively”, he added in a tweet.

Shamkhani’s contradictory remark about “peaceful capability” and a “sword” might be referring to Iran’s advanced knowledge of uranium enrichment and its possession of thousands of enrichment machines called centrifuges.

It is not clear if the imminent agreement in Vienna would address Iran’s enrichment infrastructure and the stockpile of refined fissile materials it has built ap in over a year.

Shamkhani has been sounding negative about the negotiations in recent days and insisting on the removal of all sanctions imposed since 2018 when former US president Donald Trump left the JCPOA.

Last week, he said the United States and its European allies have failed to live up to their commitments under the 2015 deal, rendering the JCPOA an empty shell, noting that Iran has not reaped any economic benefit from the agreement.

“We are nearing the end after ten months of negotiations,” wrote Enrique Mora, a senior EU official, in a tweet Tuesday. All delegations were in intense talks, Mora noted, as “key issues need to be fixed” in agreeing the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

Stephanie Al-Qaq, the lead British negotiator in Vienna, tweeted that the talks were “in the end game,” and that it was “time for us to conclude.”

A positive note came from Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s lead negotiator. “Apparently the negotiations on restoration of the JCPOA are about to cross the finish line,” he tweeted after exchanging views with Mora on the current state of affairs.

Media interest in the Vienna nuclear negotiations has increased during recent weeks with reports that agreement was close. Tehran has called for the removal of all sanctions imposed under the ‘maximum pressure’ introduced by President Donald Trump as he withdrew the US from the JCPOA in 2018, but deciding which sanctions contravene the JCPOA has proved contentious.

Some 250 Iranian lawmakers on Sunday called for a guarantee to ensure that the United States will not pull out of an agreement with Iran once again. They also demanded that all the sanctions against Iran should be lifted before any new agreement.

While foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibazadeh also insisted on Monday that sanctions should be lifted, he pointed out that Iran's Supreme Council of National Security is the body that decides on the nuclear deal. The SCNS is believed to be a front for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who steers the negotiations from behind the scenes.

Also on Monday, reformist lawmaker from Tabriz Massoud Pezeshkian said that the Majles has not been informed of the details of the negotiations in Vienna at all, noting that everything about the negotiations is being managed by the SCNS.

Based on a December 2020 legislation that called for reducing Iran's commitments under the JCPOA, the Iranian negotiating team is required to brief the Majles on the talks from time to time. The legislation at the time was touted as putting a clear legal responsibility on the government to escalate the nuclear crisis. However, according to Pezeshkian, the Majles has been left in the dark and the negotiations are being furthered based on attestations made by the SCNS.

The legislation known as Strategic Action to Lift the Sanctions and Protect Iranian Nation's Interests, appears to have been totally ignored by the negotiators and the SCNS and this, according to Pezshkian, is against the law. "Now we should ask the lawmakers who defended and approved the legislation why the law was made and why the Majles has not been briefed about the results of negotiations," Pezeshkian said, adding that "The government and the foreign ministry do not tell us anything about the talks."

The prominent lawmaker added that even the foreign ministry is not aware of what is going on in Vienna. "They make all the decisions at the Supreme Council of National Security and then tell the foreign ministry to follow up on matters," Pezeshkian said. Nonetheless, he said it is unlikely that differences would occur between the Majles and the government as both bodies belong to the same part of the Iranian political landscape.

While a significant part of Iran's economic problems are related to United States’ sanctions, SCNS Chief Ali Shamkhani insisted on Monday that holding negotiations with the Washington is not on the agenda of the Iranian negotiating team. "Negotiation with US is not on the agenda of the Iranian team because it will not be the source of any progress," he said.

This comes while President Ebrahim Raisi who visited Qatar on Monday appears to have agreed with Doha's mediation between Tehran and Washington. Political commentators who have spoken to Iran International TV unanimously agreed that Qatar is playing a mediation role between Iran and the US particularly about a planned prisoner swap. Commentator Ali Sadrzadeh said that Qatar appears to have replaced Oman in the indirect negotiations between Tehran and Washington particularly about arranging a prisoner swap.

According to conservative Nameh News website, "both Iran and the United States need an agreement. The United States does not say that as elaborately as Iran does. Iran has to surrender to an agreement that fulfils its minimal expectations to put an end to its nation's financial hardships. As both sides need an agreement, it is likely that there will be one within a few weeks."