Iran Lawmaker Warns West To Return To Talks 'Before It Is Too late'

In a warning mixed with threats Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Hassan Asafari warned, "Iran's nuclear capabilities are being boosted and tomorrow would be too late for the West to return to the negotiations."

Asafari said in an interview with the government-owned Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) that "the Western parties to the JCPOA have pushed the negotiations into a deadlock and it is in their interest to come back to the negotiating table."

The hardliner member of parliament also said: "It is a lie that it is the IRGC that prevents the negotiators from getting a result from the talks." He added: "This is not true. It is a lie told by the US side in the negotiations. What has led to the suspension of the talks is the reneging by the other side."

He was referring to numerous reports since the talks were suspended that Iran demands that the United States remove the Revolutionary Guard from its list of ‘Foreign Terrorist Organizations’.

Meanwhile, he criticized the Iranian government for not informing the parliament about where the negotiations stand, adding that the government's behavior is unacceptable.

Hoever, Iranian Foreign Ministry's former director general for Middle east affairs, Ghasem Mohebali reiterated that the members of Iran's current negotiating team have always been opposed to the JCPOA. He added that recent developments in Iran including statements made by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's senior foreign policy adviser Ali Akbar Velayati have proven that the negotiators' objective is not to revive the JCPOA, and Tehran is no longer following that objective.

Velayati last week praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and recommended an alliance with Moscow.

Mohebali said that one of the main reasons why Iranian negotiators are not interested in telling the media about what they are doing is that they have not had any achievements and their inaction has brought the negotiations to a standstill. "They do not want to talk to the media because they do not want the public to know about their failure," he said.

The former diplomat added that members of Iran's former negotiating team were career diplomats who had a lot of experience and spoke English, while the members of the new team lack these attributes.

Mohebali further charged that the negotiating team does not have a roadmap for the talks. Asked if there is any hope for a change in this policy, Mohebali said: "Unfortunately, the government is inefficient in both domestic and foreign policy, and even in running the everyday business of its ministries. You cannot expect much from such a government." He added: "In a democratic country,” and in a democratic country they would have called for early elections.

Tehran needs political determination to revive the JCPOA, the former diplomat said and pointed out that Iran's new alliance with Russia is also a hindrance to returning to the talks.

Meanwhile, a statement made by Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami, appears to have made Iran's mixed messages to the West even more confusing. Eslami told the IRGC-linked Fars News Agency , this week that Iran will not allow monitoring cameras of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be turned on until there is a nuclear agreement.