US Holds Out Hope For A Deal With Iran While Preparing For Failure
Washington expressed confidence that the Vienna talks to restore the nuclear deal with Iran can conclude quickly if the Iranians are willing to proceed in good faith.
Washington expressed confidence that the Vienna talks to restore the nuclear deal with Iran can conclude quickly if the Iranians are willing to proceed in good faith.
US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in his briefing on Monday that the deal can be revived if the Iranians “allow us to continue to build on and to move forward with the significant progress that had been made over months and months of oftentimes painstaking diplomacy and negotiations”.He dodged questions about whether the EU coordinator of the talks, Enrique Mora, is carrying any new message from the US, and only said, “We support his efforts to bring these negotiations to a successful conclusion. I wouldn’t want to prejudge or attempt to discern what he might hear from his Iranian counterparts.”“We will pursue a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA as long as it’s in our national security interest to do so. Right now, it remains in our national security interest to see Iran’s nuclear program put back in a box,” he said.However, Price added the Biden administration is ready to admit the failure of the talks, saying, “We’re already at the point where we’re preparing equally for either scenario – a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA or an alternative – and we’re discussing both with our allies and partners”.Pundits in Iran are during Mora’s visit due on Tuesday to persuade Iran to return to the nuclear talks with a positive attitude.
However, there was little if any sign of a positive attitude in the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman’s latest statement about the visit. Saeed Khatibzadeh said: "The United States has violated Iran's rights and has taken things from the Iranian nation's pocket which it should return."
Political analyst Ali Bigdeli told Nameh News website in Tehran on Monday that Mora's visit to Tehran is not likely to solve any problem. Bigdeli stressed that any breakthrough in the current situation of the talks needs a change of strategy and approach in Tehran.
Mora will stay in Tehran for more than one day, and this could mean that extensive talks are under way, although the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman's statement leaves very little hope for a "change of approach.” A change in Iran's strategy is even more unlikely following Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's meeting with Syria's Bashar al-Assad in Tehran on Sunday, as the outcome of the meeting could be a bigger role for Iran in the region.
During the past weeks some Iranian observers suggested that Iran should soften its positions in Vienna as the country badly needs an agreement that would reduce the pressure of sanctions on Iran's ailing economy.
Bigdeli said Mora was not successful in his previous missions to Tehran. This is his second visit since late March. He was not successful in his first visit as the Americans rejected the idea of delisting the IRGC as a terrorist group. But he added that now Biden might need an achievement before Congressional elections in November.
Bigdeli explained that "Talk of IRGC has derailed the nuclear negotiations. Now Iran needs to change its strategy about the region and problems are unlikely to be solved unless it adopts a pacifist approach to its regional and international strategy."
He added: "Iran needs to change its ideological anti-West approach which has led to the current deadlock. This has brought Israel closer to our borders…For once we should begin to change our views about the missile program, regional issues, human rights and so on if we really want to solve our problems."
Bigdeli stressed: "We should prioritize our national interests. Without doing so, Mora's visit and similar initiatives are not going to change anything. Our current approach has led to our isolation and created all of these economic problems."
Meanwhile, another Iranian political commentator and former diplomat Jalal Sadatian has also told Nameh News that "There is not much hope in reaching an agreement in Vienna unless one or both parties make essential changes to their positions."
He said, "Iran should have allowed the previous government [Hassan Rouhani] to forge an agreement as everything was ready [last year]. But that opportunity is lost.,” and now the IRGC issue is preventing a deal, waiting for a political decision to be made in Tehran [by Khamenei]."
Sadatian added that "in the current situation the US is not in a hurry as it knows that we have problems in our country." He went on to say that Iran is now more cautious in its relations with Moscow after the war in Ukraine and is counting to some extent on building better ties with Europe. But if the talks are not conclusive, pressures inside Iran will mount to a level higher than what we see today."
