Another Politician In Iran Calls For Direct Talks, ‘Ceasefire’ With US

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, meanwhile travelled to Vienna for discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

But Iran’s foreign ministry announced that Bagheri Kani’s return to Tehran should not be seen as a sign of imminent agreement between Iran and world powers over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

Reuters also cited an Iranian official that "if the talks collapse, Washington will be responsible for it and also for its consequences." While accepting “good progress” had been made in the talks, the official said decisions were still needed elsewhere. “Our country's fate is not linked to this deal,” the official said.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA also appeared to play down the significance of Bagheri Kani’s trip to Tehran, noting that senior negotiators from the three western European countries in the talks – France, Germany, and the United Kingdom – had also taken consultative trips away from Vienna this week.

The head of the French delegation in the talks, Philippe Errera, told Iran International Wednesday evening there would be "no pause" in negotiations. "We will continue until we reach an agreement or announce the collapse of negotiations next week,” Errera said.

Participants in the talks have spoken more openly in recent weeks that has been usual in the ten months of the talks, which have run, with pauses, since April. United Kingdom lead negotiator Stephanie Al-Qaq tweeted Wednesday that she had met with Bagheri Kani before he set off for Tehran.

Expectations that the talks were near concluding have been building for over a week. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s lead negotiator in Vienna, tweeted Tuesday that negotiations were “apparently… about to cross the finish line.” Both Al-Qaq and Enrique Mora, the EU official chairing the talks, said Tuesday that crucial issues remained to be agreed.

In a joint news conference with his visiting Omani counterpart earlier Wednesday, Iranians Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said a “sensitive and important point” had been reached. “We wonder whether the western side can adopt a realistic approach to go through the remaining points of the talks,” he told reporters.

Oman has several times facilitated Iran-United States contacts, both over prisoner swaps and in setting up ‘back door’ meetings before open talks led to the 2015 JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), the nuclear agreement that the current Vienna process seeks to revive after the US left in 2018.

"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.