Iran Emphasizes Bilateral Talks With JCPOA Members, Leaving US Out

President Joe Biden is expected to discuss with the leaders of three European allies, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Emmanuel Macron of France and the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson the coordination of the Western position in the talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA.

“It's an opportunity to closely coordinate with our key European partners at the leader level on a joint negotiating position as we work towards a resumption of negotiations,” Sullivan told a briefing in Washington.

After four months of staying away from multi-lateral talks in Vienna, Iran announced on Wednesday that it will return to negotiation until the end of November, but Tehran delaying tactic has led to uncertainty about its real intentions.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Wednesday that Tehran expects Biden to show “goodwill” and release $10 billion of Iran’s frozen funds before talks take place.

"It's not entirely clear to me yet whether the Iranians are prepared to return to talks. We have heard positive signals that they are, but I think we have to wait and see when and whether they actually show up at the negotiating table, and we're prepared to negotiate in good faith for a return to mutual compliance with the JCPOA. We hope they are as well,” Sullivan said about how Washington perceives Iran’s moves.

Sullivan argued that the Biden Administration has much closer cooperation with its European allies than the Trump administration, which abandoned the JCPOA and imposed ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions on Tehran. The national security advisor said this is “one of the most profound divergence between the previous administration and the European.”

He went on to say, “Here you'll see Chancellor Merkel, President Macron, Prime Minister Johnson, President Biden all singing from the same song sheet on this issue."

The United States and the European powers are seriously concerned about Iran’s enrichment of uranium to a high level of purity, which has no civilian use and other knowledge Tehran’s nuclear program might gain, as negotiations are delayed.

“It's also an opportunity to level set on our understanding of Iran's progress on the nuclear program since they left the JCPOA. And obviously, we all have deep concerns about the forward progress of that program since the lid was lifted and they began to operate outside of the constraints of the JCPOA," Sullivan maintained in another indirect criticism of the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the agreement.

But critics of the Biden administration say that the JCPOA was a weak agreement, with restrictions that would expire in the coming years and would allow Iran to pursue a nuclear weapons program. The US is pursuing to restore a deal that has already lost its usefulness, they say.

Although the administration has condemned former president Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, but it has kept the sanctions in place to force Iran to negotiate.

Ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov rejected a remark by Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Wednesday that Tehran does not want to return to the negotiations amid an impasse.

“We respect his views but to my mind there was no deadlock at all. We need to learn more about possible new elements in the Iranian position. At this juncture it is too early to judge,” Ulyanov replied to a tweet on Thursday.

Iran announced on Wednesday that it will return to the Vienna talks until the end of November but at the same time Amir-Abdollahian demanded that the United States should unfreeze $10 billion of Iran’s money as a sigh of “goodwill”.

Ulyanov earlier had taken his first jab at the Iranian foreign minister for repeating that Tehran will return to the talks “soon”.

"Does anybody know what it can mean in practical terms?" Ulyanov said in a tweet in a rare biting language on October 23.

On Thursday, however, Russia’s Sputnik website reported that Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani will visit Moscow to discuss the nuclear talks.

Merkel has invited current finance minister Scholz to join bilateral discussions with other world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit this weekend, a German government official said on Thursday.

Merkel's bilateral meetings, which should cover topics such as nuclear talks with Iran, will include one with US President Joe Biden, the official added.

Germany, along with the United Kingdom and France, is a participant in the Vienna nuclear talks. Iran has suspended its participation in the negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) but announced on Wednesday that it will rejoin until the end of November.

The three German parties working to form a new coalition government aim to wrap up their talks by the end of November and hope to elect Social Democrat Scholz as the new chancellor in the week of Dec. 6, party officials said last week.

The fact that Merkel and Scholz will take part in the summit together is a sign of continuity in Germany's approach to the G20, the government official said.

"Considering the repeated impact of the publication of Iranian documents, it seems that this is an ongoing trend under the influence of certain countries with certain objectives, part of which is waging psychological warfare," Behrouz Kamalvandi, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) spokesman said Wednesday in an interview with state broadcaster (IRIB).

Iran in September limited IAEA access to a manufacturing plant at Karaj that was hit in June by sabotage in which IAEA cameras were among damaged equipment. Attacks over many years on Iranian atomic facilities – including one in June on the Natanz enrichment plant – have been widely attributed to Israel, which recently announced a $1.5 billion budget for bombing Iran’s nuclear sites. Israel has also been blamed for killing Iranian nuclear scientists.

Kamalvandi said that details contained in IAEA reports, which are available to IAEA member states and widely leaked to the media, amounted to "a major development or misappropriation." He said Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA would need to be limited unless the agency restricted access to sensitive information.

Iran has been discussing with the European Union prospects for restarting talks in Vienna aimed at reviving Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. This week Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri-Kant met with Enrique Mora, the EU's deputy secretary-general for political affairs in Brussels.

Bagheri-Kani said Wednesday Iran had agreed to resume negotiations with the remaining parties to the 2015 agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), by the end of November.

The Vienna talks were suspended in June after six rounds pending the Iranian presidential election and subsequent transition. Since President Ebrahim Raisi assumed office in August Iran has repeatedly promised to resume the talks "soon" without setting a concrete date.

Iran's state media said Wednesday Iran had issued an invitation for direct talks with the European JCPOA signatories – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – in Tehran or in Europe. Reuters quoted a diplomatic source as saying that the Europeans have not received an invitation.

Tehran is reportedly seeking assurances that the United States would not leave a revived JCPOA in the way former president Donald Trump left the deal in 2018 and imposed stringent ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions.

In expanding its nuclear program since 2019 beyond JCPOA limits in response to US sanctions, Iran has gained experience and technical knowledge. It has also replaced older centrifuges, the devices used to enrichment, with more advanced ones barred by the JCPOA, in some cases because of attacks on nuclear sites.

The US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement Wednesday that “this window” for talks would “not remain open forever as Iran continues to take provocative nuclear steps.”

Tehran's chief negotiator in the talks said on Twitter on Wednesday that Iran agrees "to start negotiations before the end of November" after what he called very constructive dialogue with a European Union negotiator.

Ali Bagheri Kani said "an exact date would be announced in the course of the next week."

At the same time, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran told reporters that Iran expects to see “goodwill” from President Joe Biden and he should release $10 billion in Iran’s frozen funds.

At the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Iranians have made "similar comments over the last several days," adding the White House will "leave it up to the Europeans and our negotiators to determine when the next step would be."

Psaki said the US remains committed to "pursuing a diplomatic path forward."

Iran withdrew from negotiations in June and has refused to return despite repeated calls by the United States and its European allies. Meanwhile it is enriching uranium beyond the 2015 nuclear deal limits that worries other countries.

With reporting by AP