Nuclear Diplomacy Continues As Iran Says It Can Build A Bomb
Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday that messages were going “back and forth” with the United States as its nuclear chief reiterated it had know-how for a bomb.
Iran’s foreign ministry said Monday that messages were going “back and forth” with the United States as its nuclear chief reiterated it had know-how for a bomb.
Spokesman Nasser Kanaani told reporters at a foreign ministry briefing in Tehran that a “series of messages” had been exchanged since European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell recently made fresh proposals over efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).
“Borrell proposed a text based on previous talks [in Vienna until March between Iran and six world powers], and both sides [Iran and the United States] received it,” Kanaani said. “Iran has passed on its own views. We have witnessed that other sides have also reacted.”
Implying that Borrell’s proposals may concern process as much as substance, Kanaani said there was a fair possibility “in the near future of success in determining a time for new talks.” All depended, the spokesman insisted, on Washington showing “readiness for a logical agreement.”
‘Realm of guesswork’
Kanaani refused to comment on reports that Borrell had suggested a partial agreement under which Iran would receive some sanctions relief over oil exports in return for restoring greater access of United Nations nuclear inspectors. “Let us not enter the realm of guess-work,” he said.
Borrell took his initiative following the failure of talks in June between Iran and the US in Qatar, which failed to bridge differences remaining after year-long talks paused in Vienna in March. The main gaps were reportedly over which US sanctions, introduced after Washington left the JCPOA in 2018, violate the 2015 deal and how Iran’s refined nuclear program would be brought back within the deal’s limits.
Monday’s statement from Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, that Iran had the technical ability to produce a bomb – while, he said, not intending to do so – reiterated comments made last month by Kamal Kharrazi, a former foreign minister who now advises Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The two men’s remarks reflect progress in Iran’s nuclear program. By enriching uranium to 60 percent, way above the JCPOA limit of 3.67 percent, and introducing more advanced centrifuges banned under the JCPOA, Iran has moved far closer to being able to quickly enrich to the 90 percent purity of ‘weapons grade’ uranium.This would leave only ‘weaponization’ if the Iranian leadership chose that route.
Sanctions and Biden ‘plan B’
Frustration has continued to grow in US political circles that President Joe Biden’s approach to revive the JCPOA is failing. Critics from across the political spectrum have argued the agreement is either dead or in limbo.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the US was considering upping sanctions on Iran – a move that could be a way of increasing pressure in JCPOA talks or a step towards a ‘plan B’ should the talks be deemed over.
The Journal reported the US administration was considering sanctioning an Iraqi-British man, Salim Ahmed Said, it believed was involved through a network of companies in disguising Iranian as Iraqi oil. In emails to the newspaper, Said denied involvement.
US third-party sanctions, introduced since 2018, threaten punitive action against those buying Iran’s oil or dealing with it financial sector, but implementation remains discretionary. While some US officials have suggested the Biden administration has held back from enthusiastic enforcement, Iran has also developed greater sophistication in evading US scrutiny.
The Journal also quoted a State Department spokesman denying the US was stepping back from action in order to allow more Iranian oil onto the market and dampen the inflationary effects of the Ukraine crisis. Opec+, led by Russia and Saudi Arabia, are not expected to agree any significant boost in production at their meeting due Wednesday.
Jomhouri Eslami (Islamic Republic), was launched in 1979 by current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as the mouthpiece of the fundamentalist Islamic Republic Party but has increasingly adopted a critical stance against hardliners who have established full control over the state.
The newspaper wrote on Saturday, July 30 in an editorial by its editor Massih Mohajeri, , a cleric who maintains his own independent views regardless of the paper's former political affiliation, that the Raisi administration has visible weaknesses in the area of foreign policy and nuclear negotiations."
During the past year, Jomhouri Eslami has opposed the Iranian government's official views on foreign policy issues including relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the nuclear talks and domestic political issues including the violent crackdown on what Iranian hardliners call "bad hijab" women.
Diplomats negotiating to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, JCPOA, have repeatedly said that an agreement has almost been completed in 11 months of talks in Vienna, but Tehran demands more sanctions be lifted than Washington is willing to waive.
The daily wrote that many Iranians ask in political circles, family gatherings and government and private business office meetings "Where are we standing in the talks about [reviving] the nuclear deal and where are we headed? Will the negotiations result in an agreement or remain futile?"
According to the daily, the question arises by the fact that contrary to slogans by Iranian officials, a major part of the economy and the people's livelihoods are tied to the sanctions. The newspaper stressed that slogans about nullifying sanctions without doing any harm to the people have led to no tangible results.
"Those who chanted that slogan have been in charge of the country's executive affairs for a year now, and they have reached the conclusion that Iran's economic problems cannot be solved without lifting the sanctions," Mohajeri wrote.However, he acknowledged that part of the country's problems are the outcome of the inefficiency of Raisi's economic ministers and Raisi has so far refused to replace them.
"The paper said there is now an opportunity to reach a fair deal. “While officials on both side agree that an agreement is within reach, and some regional players have talked about a golden opportunity to reach a deal, Iranian officials are expected to realize that no better situation is going to emerge for an agreement," stressed the Jomhouri Eslami, adding that the Iranian nation will be happy with the achievement that was within reach in May 2021 on the final days of Iran's previous government, and suggested that Iranian negotiators should strive to finalize that agreement.
During the past weeks, many Iranian observers including commentators and lawmakers criticized President Ebrahim Raisi for claiming that the people wish to resist rather than reach an agreement that would lift the sanctions and bring about a breakthrough in Iran's economy.
Some former Iranian diplomats suggested that Raisi and other ultraconservatives take advantage of the current foreign policy impasse over the revival of the JCPOA for their own personal or factional political gains to strengthen their foothold in Iran's domestic politics.
This comes while several Iranian politicians including former vice President Mostafa Hashemi Taba have said that the current foreign policy impasse perpetuates the country's paralyzing economic crisis, one of the worst in Iran's modern history.