Iranian Reformists Say Hardliners Missed Chance For A Nuclear Deal

Recent commentaries in hardline media reflect growing concerns among hardliners that Iranians would blame the IRGC for the failure to secure a deal to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement, and the lifting of sanctions, which increasingly impose hardships on ordinary people.

An unattributed commentary Wednesday in Tasnim news agency which is linked to the IRGC clearly indicated that Iran wants the IRGC to be removed from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) but claimed that this was the only "one of the remaining issues" on which the US side had to make a final decision.

The commentary accused the US negotiators of trying to exaggerate the importance of delisting of the IRGC to divert Iranian public opinion from the "real matter of contention".

"Limiting the causes of the halt in the talks to the removal of the IRGC from the FTO is the US negotiating team's psychological operation to put pressure on decision-making entities in our country," Tasnim wrote. The real issue, it said, is "Iran benefiting economically from a deal" if sanctions on "effectual individuals, entities, and companies in [Washington's] red list" are lifted.

The IRGC was designated under Donald Trump in April 2019. This was the first time that the US put another country's military on its terror list.

The government mouthpiece, Iran newspaper, also ran a commentary Wednesday in which it argued, indirectly, that the IRGC was not to blame for the continuation of sanctions that many Iranians see as a major contributor to their economic hardships.

"The main issue [preventing a deal] is the US administration's lack of confidence in making important decisions", the commentary entitled "Biden's Weak Administration the Main Cause of Not Reaching an Agreement in Vienna" said, conspicuously failing to mention the IRGC's name even once.

Instead, the writer of the commentary, Mehdi Poursafa, who often contributes to IRGC-linked media outlets such as Javan newspaper and Fars news agency, accused the Biden administration of lacking courage to bypass the opposition from the "Zionist regime and the Israeli-Arab lobby in Washington" despite having "the required political capacity to approve an agreement with Iran".

Poursafa opined that the Biden administration would not make a deal before the November Congressional elections. "But Iran can't remain indifferent to this matter. Tehran surely does not want to pay the price for the domestic problems of the Biden administration and will make its next move based on the US administration's behavior and commensurate to its own national interests," he said.

The Biden administration has come under pressure not only from Republicans, but also from some key Democrats who insist that the IRGC should remain of the FTO list. So far 49 Republican Senators have called on Biden not to make concessions to Iran.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin who was one of the four Democrats to vote against the Iran nuclear deal under Barack Obama in 2015 in a letter to the Secretary of State Antony Blinken Tuesday said he supported Biden's 'diplomacy' with Iran but warned that sanctions should remain in place until Iran demonstrates "verifiable efforts towards curbing their malign influence".

Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) raised some concerns about the country’s nuclear program in reports published during the past four years, but all such issues are resolved now.

He claimed that those reports were mostly based on allegations by Israel and some opposition groups against the Islamic Republic.

Eslami said that Iran and the IAEA handled their relations in accordance with Safeguard Agreement regulations and will continue their routine interactions.

Earlier in April, Eslami said Iran had sent documents related to outstanding issues to the UN nuclear watchdog.

He added that the nuclear sites and centers that were damaged in recent years, including Arak heavy water reactor, have been overhauled and are now operating as usual in accordance with the Strategic Action Plan for the Lifting of Sanctions, which was passed by the parliament in late 2020.

Eslami’s claims have not been independently verified. The IAEA also has not confirmed that outstanding issues with Iran have been resolved.

Eleven months of indirect talks between Iran and the United States to restore its 2015 nuclear agreement, (JCPOA), have stalled as Iran has demanded the removal the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

At his press briefing Monday, the US State Department Spokesman Ned Price reiterated that the administration of President Joe Biden did not want to "negotiate in public" but also said that Tehran needs to address the concerns of Washington if it wants sanctions-lifting that goes beyond the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"If they want to negotiate issues that fall outside the purview of the JCPOA, then we’ll do that, but they will need to negotiate those issues in good faith with reciprocity," Price said.

Apparently the two most important demands, unrelated to the JCPOA, that Iran has put on the table, and wants to be met as "signs of goodwill" before a deal is signed, are removing the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from a US terror list and the release of Iranian funds frozen under US sanctions in other countries, such as South Korea and Iraq.

The IRGC, however, was sanctioned in 2019 by the Trump administration as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and Washington has signaled that if Tehran wants to have this and related sanctions removed, it should provide guarantees that its regional behavior will change.

Moreover, Iranian officials have also threatened revenge against former US officials for the targeted killing of IRGC Qods (Quds) Force commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020, a factor that has made it more difficult to discuss the removal of IRGC terrorist designation.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Monday indicated that Tehran was not going to offer any guarantees not to take revenge on American officials. "Bringing these individuals to justice is a fundamental principle in Iran's foreign policy," he said in his weekly press briefing.

Price on Monday called the Islamic Republic the "world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism". "We will use every appropriate tool to confront the IRGC’s destabilizing role in the region including working closely with our partners in Israel," he said. This was perhaps a signal that the Biden administration does not intend to remove IRGC sanctions.

Another thorny issue has been Tehran’s insistence to have its frozen funds in third countries released, something that could be linked with freedom for several US citizens held in Iran on trumped-up political charges.

Tehran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Monday that arrangements over repatriating Iran’s funds were “none of Washington’s business." Iranian officials have claimed in recent days that they will repatriate the funds independently of the nuclear talks, but they did not explain how if US banking sanction are not lifted.

Washington wants the releasee of its citizens currently detained in Iran as a sign of goodwill from Tehran. Beyond the nuclear deal itself, Price said Monday, Washington is focused on the release of its citizens.

Tehran has always insisted that the issue of detained foreign nationals and dual citizens is independent from the nuclear talks but is prepared to release the detainees "on humanitarian grounds".

Commenting on US State Department Spokesman Ned Price’s recent remarks over Iranian frozen funds at his weekly press briefing Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said a "delegation" had visited Tehran last week during which "certain agreements" were made. "This neither has anything to do with the US, nor we would allow the US to interfere in its details," he said defiantly.

Price said Thursday that all reports about Washington having agreed with the release of Iranian funds frozen by third countries were false.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman also indicated that Tehran was not going to offer any guarantees not to take revenge on American officials responsible for the Killing of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) commander, Ghasem Soleimani, in Baghdad on January 3, 2020, in return for Washington's delisting of the IRGC. "Bringing these individuals to justice is a fundamental principle in Iran's foreign policy," he said.

Negotiations in Vienna over reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement known as JCPOA came to a halt last month over a reported Iranian demand to remove its Revolutionary Guard from the US foreign terrorist designation. Media reports have mentioned that a US counter proposal asked Iran to renounce threats it made against former American officials for Soleimani’s killing.

Iranian officials and media said recently that Iran is set to recover $7 billion of its frozen assets "soon" independent of any outcome to the Vienna nuclear talks.

Khatibzadeh also categorically denied any relationship between unfreezing Iran's frozen assets and a possible Iran-US prisoner swap. "We separate humanitarian issues from debts," he claimed.

Iran has not revealed any details about the alleged diplomatic visit to free the blocked funds.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, however, on April 13 said that a foreign visit did take place the previous day and an agreement was made regarding Iranian money blocked in a "foreign bank". He made the announcement in a joint press conference with visiting Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein, but his statement about the agreement did not refer to Baghdad.

Iraq is highly dependent on Iranian gas and electricity which it has continued to purchase thanks to Washington's regularly issued sanctions waivers. Baghdad, however, has not paid Iran for its energy imports due to US third-party sanctions that prohibit other countries to conduct financial transactions with Iran.

Payments for Iran’s gas and electricity imports by Iraq go to a special account in the state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq. Iran can only use the money for humanitarian commodities.

The amount of money frozen in Iraq banks was over $6 billion in September, and given that the amount has grown since then, it is quite possible that the $7 billion officials are promising to get released is money in Iraqi banks rather than South Korea which is also holding $7 billion of frozen Iranian assets.

Khatibzadeh on Monday also said that the 2015 nuclear deal has not been working for Iran for years. "Iran's economic benefits have been neglected for years. We are a responsible country, and we adhere to a commitment once we sign it," he said, adding that Tehran has its Plan B and C, regardless of the Vienna talks.

"Sanctions removal is a key issue in ministry of foreign affairs, but neutralizing sanctions has always been on the agenda too. Iran is continuing to neutralize sanctions according to its B and C plans," he said.

AEIO spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said in an interview with Iran's al-Alam television channel Saturday the camera footage might be deleted.

Since Iran last year reduced access of the IAEA to that required under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, a temporary arrangement has been in place allowing the agency to maintain surveillance equipment at nuclear sites while no longer having instant access.

Kamalvandi reiterated that the AEOI had transferred manufacturing equipment from a complex at Karaj, west of Tehran, to Natanz and Esfahan. He said this followed an act of sabotage, a reference to an attack in June 2021 widely attributed to Israel: “We had to tighten security measures.”

The IAEA announced earlier in the week that a new workshop at Natanz would begin making parts for centrifuges, which enrich uranium. Iran began expanding its nuclear program in 2019 − the year after the United States left the 2015 nuclear deal − beyond the limits set by the deal, in levels of enrichment, in stockpiles of enriched uranium, and in the use of more advanced centrifuges, the machines used for enriching uranium.

Year-long Vienna talks with world powers, following the commitment of the Biden administration to revive the 2015 agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), are stalled.