France Says Iran Talks Must Conclude As Tehran Toughens Its Demands

Meir Ben-Shabbat, top Benjamin Netanyahu’s aide and Chief of Staff for National Security, says with the Ukraine crisis into its fifth day, the world’s attention as well as that of Israel has been focused on Eastern Europe, which can enable Tehran “to take advantage of the global tumult in order to make progress on the nuclear program and other areas”.

In an interview with the Times of Israelin Hebrew published on Monday, he described Iran’s nuclear program as a far more direct threat to Israel’s security, expressing concerns that “it looks like they are very close” to an agreement in Vienna.

“There could be effects in both directions”, he said, noting, “On the one hand, it could get in the way of the rush toward an agreement, because of the difficulty of bringing representatives to sign the agreement during this time. On the other hand, it could lead to the mistaken conclusion that a deal must be signed quickly in order to remove this issue from the agenda and to focus on the crisis in Europe”.

Some Iranian politicians also expressed cautious optimismthat the Russian invasion of Ukraine might speed up a nuclear deal between Tehran and Washington.

Saeed Khatibzadeh acknowledged for the first time that a draft agreement between the two sides is ready, although earlier Tehran had dismissed a Reuters report quoting other sources about the existence of such a document.

Khatibzadeh did not mention what the remaining 2 or 3 percent of problems are, but both Iran and the United States in recent days had emphasized that important and serious issues remain unresolved.

Iran’s spokesman reiterated that the West must resolve three key questions to reach a deal, according to ISNA news agency in Tehran.

"Reaching a good deal is possible ... three key issues still remain to be resolved. The US and European powers have not taken political decisions on these major issues," Khatibzadeh said.

The United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany negotiating in Vienna have said that they have submitted their final offer to Tehran, and it is up to the Iranian government to respond.

Iran International reported on Saturday that Washington has imposed an “immediate deadline” demanding a response from Tehran. Both Western and Iranian foreign ministry sources confirmed that the deadline set was a matter of days.

Top Iranian oficials held several national security meetings in recent days, but sources told Iran International that a major meeting on Friday where Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was present ended inconclusively.

Khatibzadeh on Monday said that Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani has returned to Vienna to pursue the talks.

Bagheri Kani, who flew to Tehran last week for consultations with Iranian officials, will "pursue the negotiations with a clear agenda aimed at resolving" the remaining issues, IRNA said.

On Sunday Khatibzadeh said that Iran will not accept any deadline set by the West.

"Iran accepts no deadlines," Khatibzadeh said, in apparent reaction to media reports that the United States had set a deadline for the nuclear talks in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Iran has made clear it wants an end to the oil and banking sanctions that are hurting its economy, while insisting also on the lifting of human rights and terrorism-related curbs.

On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Tehran was ready to "immediately conclude" a deal in talks to revive its 2015 nuclear accord with world powers if Western powers show real will.

Ambirabdollahin is due on Tuesday to report to the Iranian parliament on the progress of the talks, local media said.

On Friday, a senior U.S. State Department official said negotiators had made significant progress in the past week or so on reviving the deal, but very tough issues remained.

The spokesman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh-Meshkini, said on Sunday all the Islamic Republic’s demands in the Vienna talks should be met.

"When we say the lifting of all sanctions, it means institutions, companies and individuals; removing the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from the list of terrorist organizations is also one of the expectations of the Islamic Republic", he said.

Abbaszadeh-Meshkini added that there are five or six issues left in the Vienna talks, which are important and sensitive priorities for the Islamic Republic, noting that these are the country’s red lines.

Last week, 250 out of 290 members of parliament issued a statement urging President Ebrahim Raisi not to agree to any new nuclear deal without ensuring Iran's demands.

Iran has been insisting to obtain a political guarantee from the United States that it would not renege on a new nuclear agreement, and remove all sanctions imposed on Iran, whether for nuclear or other reasons, such as human rights violations or terrorism. The US has said it will remove only nuclear related sanctions.

Earlier In February, Israel urged the US not to remove the IRGC from its list of terrorist groups, saying the IRGC – which has been designated as a terror group since 2019 -- sponsors Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis.

Tehran also and "politically-motivated" claims by UN watchdog IAEA about its past nuclear work to be dropped, Iranian state TV reported.

Iran International reported on Saturday that according to Western and Iranian foreign ministry sources, the United States has given Iran an “immediate deadline” to respond to a final offer it has received in the framework of talks in Vienna.

The West has been warning Iran that time is running out to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement known as JCPOA, while Tehran is enriching more uranium.

According to some of these sources, meetings held in Tehran to make a decision ended inconclusively, while chief negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani will return to Vienna Sunday night. Iran said Sunday that he will go back to the Austrain capital to “pursue the talks.”

The foreign ministry also demanded on Sunday the International Atomic Energy Agency end its investigation of Tehran’s clandestine nuclear activities in the early 2000s. "We have answered the agency's (IAEA) questions or politically-motivated claims ... that we think were baseless. These dossiers should be closed," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said, according to state TV's website. "Iran accepts no deadlines."

The IAEA has found traces of fissile material in different sites in Iran and has submitted questions but has not received satisfying explanations.

Mohammad Eslami said on Saturday that the new power plants will be able to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity, noting that “it is not an easy task, but we have manpower and advanced industries for it”.

Russia commissioned Iran's first nuclear power plant, Bushehr, in 2011. It has one operational unit that generates 1,000 megawatts, providing less than two percent of the country’s electricity.

There are conflicting reports about how much the Bushehr plant coat, with former vice president Es’haq Jahangiri putting it at $8.5 billion and the Carnegie Endowment estimating it at $11 billion that took four decades to complete, making it one of the most expensive reactors in the world.

In January, AEOI spokesman said, “Negotiations are underway between Tehran and Moscow to construct the second and third units of the Bushehr power plant”.

South Korea made UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant with $24 billion that can generate 5,380 MW and Poland is building a 9,000-MW plant with about €30 billion.

Financially crippled by US sanctions Iran has little capacity to finance such a project. In November, Iran said it needs $160 billion of investmentsin its oil and natural gas industries in the coming years, to avoid becoming a net importer.