Iran’s NSC meets with lawmakers over nuclear deal

Al-Monitor – Ali Shamkhani, the secretary-general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, met with lawmakers to discuss the latest developments of the nuclear negotiations taking place in Vienna.

Shamkhani said of the remaining issues yet to be resolved in the talks, “Bitter experiences of US lack of commitment and Europe’s lack of action has made meeting requirements for a reliable, balanced and durable agreement difficult.” He added that in addition to having the sanctions removed, Iran is working on making sanctions “ineffective” and that they have taken positive steps in this direction.

According to Iranian officials, the remaining issue that the negotiators are currently trying to resolve is the question of sanctions put on Iran during the presidency of former President Donald Trump. The Biden administration seeks to get the United States back into the deal formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and bring Iran back into compliance with the original terms, whereas Iran also wants the Trump era sanctions removed. The other remaining issue is that Iran wants a guarantee that the United States will not exit the deal once again as it did with Trump in 2018. Given that the nuclear deal is not a treaty, the terms of the deal put the power in the hands of the executive branch, and if Biden loses re-election, the next Republican president will likely exit the deal.

According to most officials speaking publicly on the talks, the final result of whether Iran and the United States can revive the nuclear deal will be settled in a matter of days, at most a week. Iranian media outlets, especially those linked to President Ebrahim Raisi’s administration, have accused Western officials and their media of “playing games” in the final days of the negotiations. Iranian media outlets have also denied Western media claims that lead negotiator Ali Bagheri’s recent trip back to Tehran was to introduce new demands into the talks.

State Department spokesman Ned Price angered many Iranian media outlets when he said at a press conference, “We are prepared to walk away if Iran displays an intransigence to making progress.” IRNA called that comment, along with tweets by French and German officials, “signs of Western despair for making the necessary political decisions to reaching a reliable and durable agreement.” The article continued, “Those who from the beginning did not show initiative for progressing the talks, in the fateful and sensitive days are not able to make the political decision on the remaining issues.”

The article said that Western media claims are to portray either Iran as the culprit once the talks fail to revive the JCPOA or to portray Iran as the party that caved on its demands if the agreement is revived.