Macron Wants Iran Nuclear Deal In ‘Days’ As Raisi Rejects ‘Domination’

“Additional activities [to produce highly enriched uranium] have imposed billions of unnecessary cost and hardship on the [Iranian people] and thwarted the country’s progress it deserves given that we have not been, and are not, seeking to build nuclear bombs, and that we have achieved nuclear know-how and can produce 20 percent enriched uranium for nuclear medicine and agricultural purposes if we want to,” Motahari, a former deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, tweeted Wednesday.

“We have behaved as if the Revolution is synonymous with centrifuges [without which it] would be unable to achieve some of its fundamental ideals,” Motahari said. He added that officials’ insistence on guarantees, verification, and resolution of the remaining issues with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) now is necessary. “But we should never have reached this point.”

Motahari’s tweet appears to be an attempt at encouraging the authorities not to shut the door on a possible deal to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and not taking steps such as starting new enrichment activities that could jeopardize it, as a deal appears to be within reach.

An IAEA report seen by Reuters on Wednesday revealed that Iran has begun enriching uranium with the second of three cascades, or clusters, of advanced IR-6 centrifuges recently installed at an underground plant at Natanz.

The IR-6 is Iran’s most advanced model, far more efficient than the first-generation IR-1 that the 2015 deal lets it enrich with. For more than a year Iran has been using IR-6 centrifuges to enrich uranium to up to 60% purity, close to weapons-grade, at an above-ground plant at Natanz.

Ali Alizadeh, member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) Thursday that Iran accepted the EU's proposal, which The US appeared to have agreed to, “with two or three small conditions”.

Alizadeh said in the past few days many in Iran were hoping that a deal was possible “within a couple of days” and some even said foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was getting ready to leave the country to sign the agreement. “But hopes of an agreement are almost disappearing due to the United States’ recent note (response to the proposal),” he added.

According to Alizadeh, Iranians believed that the EU's proposal was prepared with US cooperation and consent. “The American side’s behavior is now a little different from before and therefore given the recent US response, reaching an agreement can take longer.”

Amir-Abdollahian said Wednesday that Iran is “carefully reviewing” the European Union’s August 8 proposal but “stronger guarantees from the other party” are required for a “sustainable deal”. Iranian officials have repeatedly said that a deal will not be final until “everything is agreed upon”.

Pundits believe a restored deal may be weak given the many other unresolved issues between Iran and the United States.

“Even if this happens, as in 2015, it will only be an expression of tactical tolerance of the other side, and the foundations of such an agreement will be shaky,” moderate-conservative Fararu website said in an editorial Thursday. “Chances of Iran and the US reaching a sustainable agreement will remain very low as long as the problems between them are not addressed in a fundamental manner,” it said.

Israel opposes a return to the 2015 deal, which would lift sanctions on Iran and would limit its nuclear program for a few years.

Former president Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions, prompting Tehran to violate the pact's nuclear limits. Biden has vowed to revive the agreement while ensuring the security of Israel, Iran's regional arch foe.

"The President underscored US commitment to never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon" in a call in which Biden and Lapid also discussed "threats posed by Iran," the White House said in a statement.

In its own readout of the call, Lapid's office said they "spoke at length about the negotiations on a nuclear agreement, and their shared commitment to stopping Iran’s progress towards a nuclear weapon."

The nuclear deal appeared near revival in March. But indirect talks between Tehran and Washington then broke down over several issues, including Tehran's insistence that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) close its probes into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites before the nuclear pact is revived.

Biden and Lapid in July signed a joint pledge to deny Iran nuclear arms, a show of unity between allies long divided over diplomacy with Tehran. But Lapid said last week that if the 2015 deal is revived, Israel will not be bound by it.

With reporting by Reuters

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told a press conference in Moscow Wednesday that while Iran was “carefully reviewing” a text circulated by the European Union August 8, a “sustainable deal” needed “stronger guarantees from the other party.”

Reports following the United States August 24 input on the EU text suggest Washington and Tehran are far closer in efforts to restore the 2015 agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). A former senior official in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told Iran International Tuesday that two to three weeks were needed.

In line with that timetable, the IAEA governing board is due to meet September 12-16. The meeting comes three months after the 35-member body passed a resolution – moved by the US and three European states – censuring Iran over its failure to satisfy the agency over uranium traces found by inspectors in three sites undeclared as nuclear-related.

Amir-Abdollahian: ‘Close this case’

Reiterating recent statements by President Ebrahim Raisi and Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran, Amir-Abdollahian said the agency should “close this case” as “such politically motivated demands are unacceptable.” The agency, the foreign minister said, should “focus only on its technical task.”

This contradicts claims made by a US official to Reuters August 23 that Iran had dropped such a demand – although it has also been suggested that Tehran and Washington might find a way to kick the issue into the long grass.

Iran argues that after the IAEA published in 2015 a final assessment of Iran’s nuclear work before 2003, it then resumed enquiries after allegations made in 2018 by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu supposedly based on documents stolen in Iran. The US argues, regardless of the JCPOA, that Iran should explain the uranium traces under its basic ‘safeguards’ commitments as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Congressional hurdle?

Aside from the IAEA board meeting September 12-15, the Biden administration’s efforts to renew the JCPOA may be affected by Congressional elections due November 8. A recent poll for CBS found that Republican gains may be less than earlier projected, but US politics remains volatile given a range of issues including abortion, gasoline prices, and the polarizing role of former president Donald Trump.

While Iran is hardly uppermost in voters’ mind, the nuclear deal interests many representatives. A letter circulating since Sunday, expressing concerns over renewing the JCPOA and opposing any easing of sanctions, had attracted over 40 signatures of members of the House of Representatives by early Wednesday, including 30 Democrats.

According to outlines of a possible agreement to revive the JCPOA reported by the Jerusalem Post, Biden would lift many US sanctions five days in advance of a review by Congress that is required under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Act passed 2015. Should the two houses of Congress reject the deal, Biden could still override their wishes.

Various reports on the emerging agreement over JCPOA revival refer to a number of phases lasting 165 days. This could allow either the US or Iran to back away if they felt the other side was not taking their agreed steps – with the IAEA probe possibly caught up in the process.

Eslami spoke at length with the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) in Tehran, reiterating his earlier position that UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must shelve an investigation about Iran’s past nuclear activities before a new agreement restores the 2015 nuclear deal, JCPOA.

ISNA asked Eslami if IAEA’s questions about traces of uranium found at three previously undeclared sites are in essence a PMD (possible military dimension) inquiry or a safeguards issue. “In my view, these are all political excuses, similar to the PMD [issue]. The sites they name and the accusations they make are the same that comes out of the Zionists’ and hypocrites’ mouths. They have been repeating these for years.”

In April 2018, Israel revealed a throve of documents it said were stolen from a nuclear warehouse in Tehran that showed Iran had engaged in a secret nuclear program before 2003 with military dimensions. These documents at least partly shared with the IAEA rekindled interest in re-examining the pre-2003 undeclared Iranian nuclear program. The Israeli revelation came days before President Donald trump announced the US withdrawal from the JCPOA.

After a long delay, Tehran allowed the IAEA to inspect sites that Israel named in 2019 based on the documents it said were taken out of Iran. It was during this inspection that the UN watchdog found traces of uranium, which were not supposed to be there. This raised the likelihood of PMD.

Iran provided explanations to the IAEA, that until now the agency finds not fully convincing and demands satisfactory answers, as talks to revive the JCPOA have reached a critical stage.

The exact contents of a draft agreement presented by the European Union to reach an agreement is not known, but it is clear that the IAEA demands are linked to the finalization of a deal.

Eslami insisted in his interview with ISNA that Israel is behind IAEA’s demands for more explanations by Iran, a position Tehran has been espousing for a long time. “The same mouth that says it wants to bomb and obliterate Iran’s nuclear industry, also presents these fake documents,” Eslami said referring to Israeli military threats to prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons.

ISNA asked the nuclear chief why then Iran allowed the IAEA to go and investigate these sites. “Unfortunately, the previous government [of President Hassan Rouhani] accepted that they come and see these sites. They came and saw, and questions continued,” Eslami said. He made an accusation that IAEA’s probe “is the continuation of the same sabotage and terror,” referring to a series of operations against Iran’s nuclear scientists and sensitive sites widely attributed to Israel.

Eslami also rejected reports that Iran has relinquished its demand to shelve the IAEA probe. “What we wrote was decisive. Our aim and insistence is that if this case is not closed by the date when [JCPOA] ‘re-implementation’ is to take place, there will be no ‘re-implementation, and we will not retreat and we cannot retreat.”

The two leaders held a meeting Monday evening at the prime minister's office to discuss the restoration of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the talks between Iran and world powers which appeared to have advanced in the past week.

After the briefing with Lapid,opposition leader and Likud Party head Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "more concerned about Iran” than before the meeting. He accused Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz of failing to prevent a “disastrous Iran nuclear deal” and wasting time by not campaigning in the United States against The Islamic Republic.

“I have a clear message for the ayatollahs in Tehran: On November 1, we’ll bring strong and decisive leadership to Israel that will ensure that with or without a deal, they will never have nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said, referring to Israel’s upcoming parliamentary elections.

Lapid’s Yesh Atid party also attacked Netanyahu in a tweet, accusing him of endangering the security of Israeli citizens. “While Netanyahu continues to produce and direct tone-deaf videos, the Israeli government led by Lapid will do everything to guard national security interests,” the party said in its tweet Monday evening.

The Prime Minister, however, said in a statement that he doesn't want a feud with Netanyahu over Israel’s positioning vis-a-vis the prospect of a restored Iran nuclear deal.

“There is great importance in a united Israeli stance against the Iranian effort to obtain a nuclear weapon. I call on the opposition leader and everyone not to let political considerations harm our national security,” Lapid said in a statement.

The two Israeli leaders had exchanged barbs before the Monday briefing.

In a statement before his meeting with the Prime Minister, Netanyahu had accused Lapid and Ganz of falling asleep on the watch and letting Iran "finalize a deal which jeopardizes our future…Lapid and Gantz' incompetence will be remembered in history as the Iranian nuclear fiasco.”

Responding to Netanyahu’s accusations, Lapid had said all Netanyahu had done when he was prime minister was giving press conferences and presentations. “The damage he caused during his tenure to Israel's two most important strategic issues — the fight against the Iran nuclear weapon and relations with the US — is serious and deep and we are still repairing it,” he said.

Iranian officials have not commented on the argument between Israeli leaders but in a press conference Sunday, President Ebrahim Raisi dismissed Israeli threats against Iran and referring to theassassination of Iran's nuclear scientists said no matter what Israel does, it cannot stop Iran and deprive the Iranian nation of "its inalienable right to access peaceful nuclear technology”. He also insisted that the Islamic Republic is not pursuing nuclear weapons.

The IRGC-linked Fars news agency on Sunday said analysts in Tehran believe that Israel and the United States are strategic partners and Tel Aviv's positions on the Vienna talks plays a complementary role to Washington's policy.

"Whenever the US is in trouble in negotiations with Iran and has failed to fulfil its purpose, the Zionist regime steps onto the scene to play a complementary role," senior analyst Seyed Mostafa Khoshchesm told Fars. “"The Israeli regime plays the role of a bad cop and conducts terror operations, cyber and sabotage attacks against Iran to serve the US interests," he said.