Iran will not accept any loopholes and ambiguities in a text on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, a senior advisor emphasized as western powers reacted to the country’s latest comments with disappointment.
Mohammad Marandi, a media advisor to Iran’s top negotiator, made the remarks in a tweet after the European Union coordinator said Iran answers have left him “less confident” about the conclusion of talks to restore the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The JCPOA has been unravelling since the United States pulled out in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions which prompted Tehran to react by scaling down its commitments.
Negotiations have been underway since April 2021 in Vienna, Austria, to work out how both sides could resume compliance, but have been lingering for months over a few outstanding differences.
The EU coordinator, Josep Borrell, put forward what he called a “final” text last month, which has been going back and forth between Tehran and Washington ever since.
Iran submitted its latest views last week, highlighting a “constructive approach” in the sent text, with the aim of finalizing the negotiations.
On Thursday, however, Washington said that Iran’s latest proposed changes to the text were “not constructive”.
Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Borrell also said the last comments did not seen to help conclude a deal.
“So I have to say that the last answer I got, if the purpose is to close the deal quickly, it is not going to help it,” he said.
He said his initial “carefully balanced” text had been “well received” and that initially it had seemed the parties were converging on a common position.
“But the last interaction is not converging, it is diverging,” he said. “That is very much worrisome, if the process does not converge. The whole process is in danger.”
He said he was going to keep consulting with other JCPOA parties and in particular with the US, but that had regretfully lost confidence.
“But I’m sorry to say that I am less confident today than 28 hours before about the convergence of the negotiation process and about the prospect of closing the deal right now.”
Costs on EU
Marandi censured Borrell’s reaction, noting that he is an ally of the US who, instead, “is imposing costs on the EU.”
“[Borrell] forgets that the reason for these negotiations are western violations of the JCPOA & maximum pressure sanctions targeting Iranian citizens even as Iran was in full compliance,” he said.
He had earlier said that for the US, “constructive” usually means accepting US terms, while for Iran, it means a deal that is balanced and protected.
Iran insists that the text of an agreement must be thoroughly and clearly stated and strong enough as to not allow future breaches.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman had explained on Monday that Iran’s final alterations were aimed at removing ambiguities from the suggested clauses and making the final text more lucid and stronger so that it would not be subject to misinterpretation in the future.
“Iran’s response was constructive, clear and legal, and can pave the way for the conclusion of talks in short order if there is mutual political will, he said.
He also stressed that if the framework of economic and nuclear guarantees that Iran demands is not strong enough, the deal could be violated again as it was by the US ex-president Donald Trump.
Iran demands guarantees for its economic benefits of the JCPOA as well as the closure of an alleged safeguards case at the International Atomic Energy Agency which it says could disrupt the implementation of the deal in the future.
The US has so far said it cannot give assurances that future US governments would comply because the deal is a political understanding rather than a legally binding treaty.
It has also said it would not press the IAEA to close the case unless the agency itself sees fit after receiving credible answers from Iran.
