Iran Says Europeans Can Also Propose Own Drafts In Nuclear Talks
The top Iranian negotiator told state media Friday European sides can propose their own drafts for discussion, after they expressed dismay over Iran's demands at nuclear talks.
The top Iranian negotiator told state media Friday European sides can propose their own drafts for discussion, after they expressed dismay over Iran's demands at nuclear talks.
"There is no problem if the Europeans also provide drafts, and they can be discussed, but they must be based on principles approved by both sides," Ali Bagheri Kani, a deputy foreign minister, said according to the state broadcaster IRIB, before leaving Vienna.
Some European negotiators have reportedly said that what is included in Iran’s documents is nothing more than what had been agreed but not finalized five months ago. They added that Iran has still not answered some of the questions pending since the end of the first six rounds of talks in June.
Indirect US-Iranian talks on salvaging the 2015 Iran nuclear deal teetered on the brink of crisis on Friday as they broke off until next week.
US Secretary of State had said that by the conclusion of today’s meetings it should be clear if Iran is serious in the new round of talks.
CNN State Department correspondent Jennifer Hansler tweeted Friday that a State Department spokesman criticized Iran’s approach to the latest round of talks telling CNN that President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration “did not come to Vienna with constructive proposals.”
A large explosion in April that inflicted major damage to the Natanz uranium enrichment site was conducted by recruiting several Iranian scientists working in the complex, the report says. They smuggled explosives into the highly secure facility and at the chosen moment the explosion was triggered remotely.
The Jewish Chronicle (JC) says 90 percent of centrifuge machines enriching uranium were destroyed and the facility was put out of action for nine months. The scientists and people involved in the operation were evacuated from Iran and are in a safe place the report adds.
The Natanz incident rattled the Iranian leadership, because it was so large, they could not hide it, or claim it was a technical accident. The Islamic Republic heavily promotes an image of invincibility to keep control of its restive population and successful sabotage acts damage its image domestically.
Natanz was the target of an earlier attack in July 2020, when a sensitive building for manufacturing new centrifuges blew up. The JC report says that in this operation explosives were imbedded in construction material that Iran bought from Israeli agents and when the time came the Mossad pushed the button.
The spectacular assassination of a top Iranian nuclear and military scientist in November 2020 was another sabotage act widely attributed to Israel, when a remotely operated heavy rifle was placed in a van and opened fire at the car of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killing him on the spot, despite the presence of a team of bodyguards.
This led to mutual recrimination between security agencies but was particularly embarrassing to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which had the responsibility to protect Fakhrizadeh.
As the Biden Administration has been trying to revive the Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran, abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018, Israel has become highly worried that Tehran will get maximum concessions from the US and keep its nuclear program intact. Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened in recent months to use military force if needed to deny Iran a nuclear option.
