Iran-US Proximity Talks In Qatar Ends With No Progress - EU Envoy
Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington in Qatar to resolve remaining issues in negotiations to restore the landmark 2015 nuclear pact ended without progress.
Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington in Qatar to resolve remaining issues in negotiations to restore the landmark 2015 nuclear pact ended without progress.
Calling the proximity talks “two intense days” of negotiations, EU's envoy Enrique Mora tweeted Wednesday evening that “Unfortunately, not yet the progress the EU team as coordinator had hoped-for. We will keep working with even greater urgency to bring back on track a key deal for non-proliferation and regional stability.”
It is not clear whether there might be a further round, while Tehran and Washington have yet to comment on how the talks have progressed, or what they expect next.
Moreover, Axios quoted an unnamed US official as saying that "The Iranians have not demonstrated any sense of urgency, raised old issues that have been settled for months, and even raised new issues that are unrelated to the 2015 nuclear agreement.”
According to the source, “A deal has been available for some time. If there is a side that needs to take a decision, it’s them — and it’s been them for months."
Earlier in the day, Tasnim news agency, with links to the Revolutionary Guards, reported that the Tehran-Washington nuclear talks in Qatar had ended without agreement, a claim quickly rebutted by the foreign ministry.
Tasnim said the American side refused to give "guarantees for Iran's economic benefits” from the deal.
The Times was vague on Naseri’s position in the Guards (IRGC) and how it related to the removal last week of Hossein Ta’eb, the Guards (IRGC) intelligence chief, in the face of disquiet in senior circles over Iran’s response to a covert Israeli campaign.
Iran International has reported disquiet among top ranks over intelligence failures demonstrated by the May 22 assassination of IRGC Quds (Qods) Force colonel Hassan Sayyad in Tehran, while state media has also implied that the deaths of two aeronautical staff in late May and early June were suspicious.
The New York Times quoted Keren Hajioff, senior advisor to Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, that Israel was following a “new tactic” based on Bennett’s ‘Octopus Doctrine.’ The advisor said: “Now we go straight for the head,” instead of IRGC’s proxies in the region such as the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The paper cited an unnamed Israeli official that “part of the strategy entailed exposing failures by the Revolutionary Guards in their covert war with Israel in the hope that it would create conflict between political leaders and the defense and intelligence establishment.” Rivalries within the IRGC – with Esmail Ghaani (Qaani), head of the IRGC extraterritorial Qods Force, and Esmail Khatib, intelligence minister, critical of Ta’eb – would suit the Israelis’ approach.
The Times described Naseri as “a senior commander in the Revolutionary Guards’ Protection of Information Unit, tasked with oversight and supervision of the organization’s work,” although the paper sourced this to an April 21 2019 story from Radio Farda that Naseri had been replaced in that position. The Iranian Students News Agency also reported at the time that Naseri had been removed.
‘Criminal media networks’
Two months later, on June 11, 2019, IRGC spokesman Ramezan Sharif addressed what he called rumors of the arrests or fleeing of commanders. These were efforts by Iran’s enemies to cause disruption through “criminal social media networks and media.”
Sharif insisted that three individuals named in various websites – taken to mean Naseri, Mohammad Tavalaee, and Mostafa Rabiee – were “active in new positions” and were “seriously performing in their missions and carrying out their duties,” with some of their public appearances reported in Iranian media.
There had been suggestions at the time that Naseri had fled the country, with the Washington Free Beacon claiming he had defected to an Arab state in the Persian Gulf taking with him secret documents.
The 2019 reports of Naseri’s dismissal came the day before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed General Hossein Salami as overall commander of the IRGC and two weeks after then US president Donald Trump added the IRGC to the US list of ‘foreign terrorist organizations.’
It remains unclear what position Naseri occupied prior to his recent alleged report. If he had been replaced in 2019, how he could have been trusted with another sensitive post?
So far, three key IRGC intelligence and security figures have been replaced and Ta’eb’s ally, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is being attacked by some hardliners for corruption, an allegation widely believed to be true among Iranian observers who have followed him through his military and political career.
