Iran top negotiator: It’s time for other JCPOA parties to decide on deal

Iran’s top negotiator in nuclear talks Abbas Araqchi said there are a series of issues which have remained unresolved and have been sufficiently negotiated, stressing that it is time for the other parties to the nuclear agreement to decide.

Araqchi made the remarks following a meeting with the members of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on Sunday, according to IRNA.

“So far, six rounds of negotiations with the P4+1 have taken place and we are close to the final stages; a series of issues have remained unresolved and have been sufficiently negotiated; it is time for the other countries to decide.”

Araqchi said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran has previously made its tough decisions. When the United States withdrew from the JCPOA and Iran decided to stay in the nuclear deal, it was Iran’s big and difficult decision that led to the preservation of the JCPOA. Now it is the turn of the other parties to decide and reach a conclusion on the revival of the nuclear deal.”

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Saturday it believes a reinstatement of the 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers is possible but warned that Tehran “will not negotiate forever”.

“Out of a steadfast commitment to salvage a deal that the US tried to torpedo, Iran has been the most active party in Vienna, proposing most drafts,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Twitter, referring to talks aimed at reviving the nuclear deal, according to Reuters.

“Still believe a deal is possible, if the US decides to abandon Trump’s failed legacy. Iran will not negotiate forever,” Khatibzadeh tweeted.

The US, under former president Trump, left the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018 and initiated a “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, prompting Tehran to take remedial measures by gradually reducing its nuclear commitments under the deal, Press TV reported.

Since April, representatives from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries – France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China – have been holding talks in Vienna aimed at revitalizing the JCPOA and bringing the US back to compliance.

Following a year of strategic patience, Iran resorted to its legal rights stipulated in Article 26 of the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of non-compliance by other signatories, and let go of some of the restrictions imposed on its nuclear energy program.

Now, the new US administration, under President Joe Biden, says it wants to compensate for Trump’s mistake and rejoin the deal, but it is showing an overriding propensity for maintaining some of the sanctions as a tool of pressure.

Tehran insists that all sanctions should first be removed in a verifiable manner before the Islamic Republic reverses its remedial measures.

Iran’s top negotiator in Vienna said last week that all documents are now almost ready for a final deal and it is time for other parties to the accord to make up their minds.

“We are now closer to an agreement than at any time before, but bridging the gap between us and an agreement is not an easy task and needs decisions, which must be mostly made by the other parties,” Araqchi added.

Source: Iran Daily