US Again Warns Time 'Very, Very Short' For Nuclear Deal With Iran
The US State Department has repeated its warning that the window to reach a nuclear deal with Iran is closing fast, without setting a time limit on negotiations.
The US State Department has repeated its warning that the window to reach a nuclear deal with Iran is closing fast, without setting a time limit on negotiations.
State Department spokesperson the window of opportunity to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement known as JCPOA “is very, very short,” and added, “that window is very, very short precisely because once Iran reaches the point where its nuclear advances have obviated the nonproliferation benefits that the JCPOA conveyed, that’s a point at which it will no longer make sense, from our national security interests and the national security interests of our allies and partners around the world, to pursue a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA and we’ll have to pursue another course.”
Iran began enriching uranium to a higher purity level of 20 percent when former president Donald Trump tightened US sanctions in May 2019. But it boosted enrichment to the dangerous level of 60 percent in early 2021 when President Joe Biden had announced his readiness to return to the JCPOA, abandoned by Trump in 2018.
Ned Price however, blamed the former administration for triggering Iran’s decision to enrich more uranium to a higher degree of purity. A reporter asked him if he believed Iran had a choice and decided to stockpile more fissile material and get closer to a bomb. Price insisted that the JCPOA was preventing such a move and the US withdrawal from the agreement allowed Iran to boost enrichment.
Price avoided a direct response to a question on the most recent political development in Washington, when Democratic Senator Bob Menendez gave a detailed speech on the Senate floor on February 1, questioning Biden’s policy on Iran and its nuclear program. The State Department spokesperson reiterated the administration’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program but did not respond to the Senator’s criticism.
Following Menendez’s remarks, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced on Wednesday that Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley will testify next week in a closed session, a demand by many Republicans for answers from the Administration on Iran policy.
Price’s warning about time running out has been a message constantly repeated by the Biden Administration and its European allies for months, without issuing a deadline for Iran to reach an agreement in Vienna. The enforcement of sanctions has also slackened, allowing Tehran to export more oil and claim to be in a stronger position in the talks.
China, which is one of the signatories of the JCPOA and a participant in the Vienna talks, has increased its oil imports from Iran, indirectly undercutting the West’s leverage in the negotiations. There have been reports that the US has asked China not to violate its sanctions, but apparently Beijing has pursued its own policy of expanding ties with the Islamic Republic.
Tehran has also continued its provocations in the region, with repeated militia drone and rocket attacks in Iraq and Syria against US forces. In January, Iran-backed Houthi forces in an unprecedented escalation began launching missile and drone attacks against the United Arab Emirates.
To what extent the US Congress will stay on the sidelines of policy toward Iran is not clear but Senator Menendez appeared determined to put pressure on the Administration.
“It’s time to start thinking out of the box and consider new strategies for rolling back Iran’s nuclear program and addressing its dangerous and nefarious activities,” he said on the Senate floor.
Reports about the 200-page letter has been circulating in Iran for a few days, but on Tuesday Sharq newspaper for the first time revealed its content quoting “an informed source”, who said that Jalili has gone beyond criticizing the 2015 nuclear agreement.
Jalili, known as a hardliner on the nuclear issue and an opponent of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was Iran’s chief negotiator from 2007-2013, when ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidency came to an end and Hassan Rouhani assumed office, bringing with him Mohammad Javad Zarif as foreign minister.
During Jalili’s tenure Iran’s nuclear diplomacy failed in finding a compromise with the West and evidence of large-scale uranium enrichment eventually led to the United Nations Security Council beginning to impose economic sanctions on Iran.
Fresh talks started in the first year of Rouhani’s presidency that eventually led to the signing of the JCPOA.
Sharq newspaper quoting its ‘informed source’ says that Jallili in his letter proposed to Khamenei to end the nuclear talks, withdraw from the Obama-era nuclear agreement and boost uranium enrichment to 90 percent, which would mean weapons-grade fissile material. Currently, Iran enriches to 60-percent purity, which has already alarmed the Western powers.
Jalili in his letter also told the Supreme Leader not to be concerned about a harsh reaction by world powers, arguing that if the West takes Iran’s case to the Security Council, Russia and China would veto any return to international sanctions. He then goes a step further and proposes to open direct negotiations with United States at that stage, from apposition of strength and extract concession, including the removal of US sanctions imposed by former president Donald Trump.
This would amount to a repeat of Jalili’s experiments when he was chief nuclear negotiator. The history of those negotiations shows that his procrastinations and hardline postures led to the international sanctions, which Russia and China did not veto between 2007-2112, banning Iran’s oil exports, weapons trades and banking restrictions.
The existence of Jalili’s letter has not been officially confirmed, but besides media reports, the spokesman of the foreign ministry, Saeed Khatibzadeh, did not deny it. When asked about his reaction to the letter on Monday, he suggested that reporters should ask Mr. Jalili and went on to say that Iran’s nuclear negotiating strategy is “decided collectively”, meaning that a range of present and former officials have input.
Sharq in its report says that before sending the letter to Khamenei, Jalili shared his views with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and current nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani, his former protégé, but failed to convince them. After that he decided to appeal to the highest decision maker in the land.
The idea of direct talks with the United States was mentioned by the foreign minister last month, but as a part of reviving the JCPOA and not withdrawing from it.
Sharq mentions that after years of relentless attacks against the JCPOA, a large segment of hardliner conservatives faced a dilemma when Ebrahim Raisi who was representing them, became president last year and continued nuclear talks. One choice was to back down from their opposition and support the new hardliner government, and another was to continue opposing a nuclear compromise.
The newspaper commented that Jalili apparently has decided to continue playing the role of a “shadow government” and oppose negotiations and any agreement that falls short of full uranium enrichment.
