Saudi Arabia confirms recent talks with Iran
FM Prince Faisal says the fourth round of negotiations between the two Middle East archrivals took place on September 21.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/3/saudi-arabia-confirms-recent-talks-with-iran

 

UAE official says time to manage rivalry with Iran and Turkey
Anwar Gargash, UAE president’s diplomatic adviser, says there is uncertainty about US commitment to region, concern about Beijing.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...s-time-to-manage-rivalry-with-iran-and-turkey

 

Facebook Whistleblower: Iran Using Facebook For Espionage On Other State Governments, Company is 'Very Aware'

 

Iran-Russia talks. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is in Moscow today for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The two are expected to discuss Iran’s return to the nuclear negotiating table in Vienna as well as developments in the Caucasus region, where Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has criticized Tehran for holding military exercises near its border. In a television interview on Sunday, Amir-Abdollahian said Iran “is serious about the negotiations, and we will return to the negotiations soon,” but didn’t provide specifics.


Foreign Policy Morning Brief

 

I do not know how radical and dangerous President Ebrahim Raisi really is. But so far at least he sure seems to be the smartest and most savvy Iranian president I have ever seen because he is just hitting all the bases.


Iran looking for ‘big jump’ in Russia relations with Moscow talks
Iran’s new FM Amirabdollahian is in Moscow to hold talks with his Russian counterpart.

 

We had Iran's nuclear program contained. Even members of Trump's own administration told him the Iran nuclear deal was working and Iran was in compliance. But since Trump is literally and clinically mentally ill he blew up the deal because President Obama was getting credit for it. And now we have a real problem.

Iran’s nuclear chief reports jump in 20 percent enriched uranium
Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says Iran has produced over 120kg of 20 percent enriched uranium.


Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) head Mohammad Eslami says Iran has complied with a law that demanded production of 120kg of enriched uranium in one year [File: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters]
By Maziar Motamedi
10 Oct 2021
Tehran, Iran – Iran has produced more than 120 kilogrammes (265 pounds) of 20 percent enriched uranium, according to its nuclear chief, a considerable increase compared with the global nuclear watchdog’s latest report.

In an interview broadcast on state television late on Saturday, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) head Mohammad Eslami said it has more than complied with a December parliament law that demanded production of 120 kilogrammes of 20 percent enriched uranium in one year.


“We have surpassed the 120-kilogramme figure and in this regard, we’re ahead of schedule,” he said.

Eslami said the research reactor in Tehran was supposed to receive the fuel from other parties to the country’s 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but that it was not delivered.

“If we hadn’t started producing this much fuel ourselves, this issue would’ve turned into one of the problems today,” he said.

In a report last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran’s stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium stood at more than 84 kilogrammes (185 pounds), up from 62.8 kilogrammes (138 pounds) three months prior.


Advancing nuclear programme
Under the terms of the JCPOA – which the United States unilaterally abandoned in 2018, leading Iran to gradually scale back its own commitments – Iran was to cap enriching uranium at 3.67 percent, with the exception of its research reactor activities.

Sabotage attacks on Iranian nuclear sites and the November assassination of a top nuclear scientist – all of which Iran has blamed on Israel – prompted the hardline parliament to ratify a new law, which calls for ramped-up nuclear activity until the US sanctions are lifted.

Iran has since begun enriching uranium up to 60 percent, utilised more centrifuges, produced uranium metal and is building more advanced centrifuges.

Western powers and Israel say they are concerned Iran may be racing for a nuclear bomb, but Iranian officials maintain they have never sought a nuclear weapon.

“The production of uranium metal may be considered a danger in the eyes of the Americans, but we will do what is necessary for our national interests,” Eslami said during the interview on Saturday.

No access to Karaj facility
The nuclear chief also pointed to a disagreement Iran had with the IAEA last month over an agreement reached in Tehran that would allow inspectors to service monitoring cameras at nuclear sites and replace their memory cards.

Eslami said after Iran insisted it would not grant access to a site in Karaj that was subject to a sabotage attack earlier this year, the agency did not pursue the matter.

The nuclear watchdog had previously said it needed access to the site to replace monitoring equipment that was damaged or destroyed during the attack on the facility.

The IAEA “did not take a stance or condemn the terrorist operation on this site, which practically encourages these terrorist attacks”, he said, adding that the site continues to be under judicial and security investigations.

The US and European powers party to the nuclear deal continue to call on Iran to return to Vienna in order to resume talks aimed at restoring the JCPOA.

Top officials in the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi have said they are reviewing the files of six rounds of negotiations that ended in late July, and will return to the Austrian capital soon. But they have also said they will only engage in negotiations that will lead to the lifting of US sanctions.

Source: Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...f-reports-jump-in-20-percent-enriched-uranium

 

Lies.
Iran never had any intention of complying with the deal. It was all for show, and everyone, even Kerry, knew it when the deal was cut. Trump did the only smart thing and told Iran to stick it up their collective asses, so that at least their development was out in the open.

No matter.
Unless they send Kerry back over to sell out the world to a bunch of terrorists bent on destroying Israel and the United States.
That would please stumbler.

 

UN agency: Iran violating all restrictions of nuclear deal - ABC News (go.com)
Evidence that Iran Violated the Nuclear Deal Since Day One? :: Gatestone Institute
Iran Breaches the Nuclear Deal and UN Resolutions for Third Time | HuffPost Latest News
Iran is violating the deal | TheHill

But hey, whatever it takes, eh stumbler?

 

For a supposed hardliner the new Iranian president acts more like a Peacenick.

Azerbaijan, Iran agree to mend ties ‘through dialogue’
Relations between Baku and Tehran soured in recent weeks amid allegations Israel’s military was active in Azerbaijan.

 

Iran and world powers resume Vienna talks to restore nuclear deal
Russia’s representative says talks begin ‘quite successfully’ as Iran’s negotiator says Tehran is serious about reaching a ‘fair agreement’.


Cameras stand outside Palais Coburg, the site of a meeting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in Vienna, Austria [Lisi Niesner/Reuters]
By Maziar Motamedi
Published On 29 Nov 2021
|
Updated:
7 hours ago
Tehran, Iran – Iran and the world powers party to its 2015 nuclear deal have begun long-awaited talks in Vienna to restore the pact, which the United States abandoned three years ago.

Representatives of Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom convened in the Austrian capital on Monday. Messages were relayed to American representatives as Iran again refused to hold direct talks since the US is no longer a member of the accord.


After the first meeting, the European Union’s Enrique Mora, who is chairing the talks, sounded optimistic.

“I feel positive that we can be doing important things for the next weeks,” he told reporters.

Mora said that a sanctions working group that was formed during a previous round of talks in April will restart its activities from Tuesday, and the nuclear working group will reactivate a day later.

Mora also said Iran has accepted the need to build on results achieved during the first six rounds of talks, adding that Tehran also wishes to incorporate the new “political sensibilities” of the Raisi administration.

In a statement following the talks, the Iranian foreign ministry said that Iran’s top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani emphasised to the participants that Iran is serious about reaching a “fair agreement” that would secure Iran’s legitimate interests.

“So long as the US’ maximum pressure campaign breathes, reviving the JCPOA is nothing more than exorbitant talk,” the negotiator was quoted as saying.


Mikhail Ulyanov
@Amb_Ulyanov
The meeting of the Joint Commission on #JCPOA is over. The participants agreed on further immediate steps during the seventh round of negotiations which started quite successfully.

9:22 AM · Nov 29, 2021

Russia’s top negotiator, Mikhail Ulyanov, confirmed in a tweet that participants agreed on further immediate steps during the seventh round of talks, which he said “started quite successfully”.

The talks are a continuation of six rounds of talks that paused in June to allow Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi to form his administration.

Several informal meetings, including a trilateral meeting between Iran, China and Russia, and another between Kani and the EU’s Mora, were held on Sunday to set up the main negotiations.

If successful, the talks will lift unilateral US sanctions while scaling back Iran’s nuclear programme. But differences in the two countries’ stances heading into the discussions cast doubt on the odds of success, and were expected to prolong the talks.

US must ‘accept reality’
Iran has said the US must accept responsibility for reneging on the accord, verifiably lift all sanctions imposed since 2018 at once, and guarantee it will not go back on its commitments again.

Iran’s negotiating team in Vienna mostly consists of people with economic expertise, signalling the country’s main focus in the talks will be on lifting the crippling American sanctions.

The US, meanwhile, has said it is ready to lift sanctions that are “inconsistent” with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the deal is formally known. This means the Biden administration wants to maintain some of the human rights and “terrorism” sanctions it has imposed, as well as those imposed by the Trump administration.

Later on Monday, a US State Department spokesperson reiterated Washington’s call for a return to mutual compliance with the deal, without sharing details about the resumption of the talks. “If Iran demands more or offers less than a mutual return to compliance, these negotiations will not succeed,” Jalina Porter told reporters during a phone briefing.

Both sides had repeatedly questioned each other’s commitment ahead of the talks. Iran’s Bagheri told Al Jazeera last week the US must “accept reality” and come to Vienna with the intent of lifting all sanctions.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, on Monday accused the JCPOA’s European signatories of attempting to delay the lifting of sanctions.

This came in reaction to a joint article by the foreign ministers of the UK and Israel – the nuclear deal’s most vocal opponent – in which the two pledged to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will on Tuesday visit France to meet President Emanuel Macron after attending an event with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday. Israel has previously threatened Iran with direct military action.

Iran maintains it is not seeking a nuclear weapon, but Western powers question the expansion of the country’s nuclear programme during the past two years, which has seen it enrich uranium up to 60 percent and deploy advanced centrifuges.

Meanwhile, other regional players such as members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have welcomed the restoration of the nuclear deal, whereas they – led by Iran’s major rival, Saudi Arabia – previously supported Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...rs-begin-vienna-talks-to-restore-nuclear-deal

 

The way to negotiate with a terrorist who has pledged to see the death of your country is to proceed with talks only after a marine boot is firmly planted on their neck.

 

If I was President Biden I would show Iran some good will right now and lift the sanctions on Iranian oil so they could flood the global market with it to fuck over Saudi Arabia and Russia for manipulating prices.

Iran says nuclear deal ‘within reach’ if West shows goodwill
Iran provides European powers involved in the 2015 nuclear deal two drafts on sanctions removal, nuclear commitments.


This file photo from October shows Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri (R) posing for a picture with European External Action Service (EEAS) deputy secretary general, Enrique Mora, in Tehran [Iranian Foreign Ministry via AFP]
Published On 2 Dec 20212 Dec 2021
|
Updated:
6 hours ago
Iran’s top diplomat says an agreement to revive his country’s nuclear deal with world powers was “within reach” but that this depended on the goodwill of the West.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Twitter on Thursday that negotiations in the Austrian capital, Vienna, were “proceeding with seriousness” and that the removal of sanctions was a “fundamental priority”.

Keep reading
IAEA says Iran has increased its uranium stockpile
US must ‘accept reality’ and lift sanctions: Iran negotiator
Iran, IAEA agree to continue dialogue ahead of Vienna talks
“Good deal within reach if the West shows good will. We seek rational, sober and result-oriented dialogue,” said Amir-Abdollahian.

The talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and several world powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – resumed on Monday after Iran paused them in June following the election of President Ebrahim Raisi.

The US, which unilaterally pulled out of the deal in 2018, is only participating in the talks indirectly at Iran’s insistence.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/2/iran-says-nuclear-deal-within-reach-if-west-shows-goodwill

 

Yeah, play right into their hand.
How about biden do what Obama started and Trump completed, make the US energy independent?

But, whatever it takes, eh?

 

Where does Iran’s nuclear deal stand after seven rounds of talks?
European delegations head back to capitals for consultations after submission of two proposals by Iranian side, with fresh round of talks expected next week.


Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani Bagheri told Al Jazeera his country's proposals 'cannot be rejected' [Joe Klamar/AFP]
By Maziar Motamedi
Published On 4 Dec 20214 Dec 2021
Tehran, Iran – All the signatories of the nuclear accord inked by Iran and world powers in 2015 say they want it restored as there is no viable alternative, but Iranian and Western definitions of a “good deal” to achieve that goal remain heavily at odds.

The seventh round of talks in Vienna ended on Friday, only to better expose the divide in the different sides’ approach to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Keep reading
Iran chief negotiator says nuclear proposals ‘cannot be rejected’
Why Iran may become a latent nuclear state
Iran and Taliban forces clash in border area
While the Iranian delegation said it has the mandate and will to remain in the Austrian capital to resume talks as long as necessary, the European missions called for a short pause to return to capitals for consultations.

The representatives are expected to head back to the Palais Coburg in Vienna later next week for round number eight.


Iran on Thursday put forth two documents to the JCPOA Joint Commission that also consists of negotiators from China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. The Europeans then relayed the documents to the United States, which is participating indirectly as it unilaterally abandoned the accord in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

The documents detail Iran’s proposals on how to lift the sanctions and scale back down the country’s nuclear advances. The country had previously said it wants all sanctions imposed since 2018 lifted at once, whereas the US only wishes to lift sanctions “inconsistent” with the JCPOA, keeping in place human rights or “terrorism” designations.

A third document has also been prepared to be handed over soon, which details Iran’s demands for guarantees that the US will not abandon the deal again, and verification on lifting of sanctions.

Opposing rhetoric
The Europeans were left dismayed as they said the documents represent a maximalist stance by Iran, and walk back on many of the issues that were agreed upon by the administration of former President Hassan Rouhani in texts drafted by the end of the sixth round of talks in June. A new administration under President Ebrahim Raisi took office in Tehran in August.

A statement by senior European diplomats said some of the changes demanded by Iran in the documents were incompatible with the 2015 pact, and said it is “unclear how these new gaps can be closed in a realistic timeframe”.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also said on Friday that Iran “does not seem to be serious about doing what is necessary” to restore the JCPOA, pledging to not let Iran drag out the negotiations while its nuclear programme advances.

In response to the European statement, Russia’s chief negotiator, Mikhail Ulyanov, said “disappointment seems to be premature” as changes are still possible.

Following the talks, Iran’s chief negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, confirmed to reporters that the Europeans were not happy with the Iranian proposals.

“They told us these proposals don’t align with our views and I told them it’s natural; we are not going to offer proposals that are in line with your views, we say things consistent with our own views and interests,” he said.

“The important thing is that these proposals are based on principles that are also accepted by other parties,” Bagheri said, adding that the other sides did not question the legality or relevance of Iranian proposals.

Earlier on Friday, Bagheri told Al Jazeera Iran’s proposals “cannot be rejected, at all, because they are based on the provisions of the 2015 nuclear agreement”.

Advancing nuclear programme
As the Vienna talks were under way, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced in a report that Iran has begun enriching uranium to a purity of 20 percent at the underground Fordow facility.

The country’s “breakout time” – which signals how long it would take for it to develop a nuclear weapon if it chose to – has dropped to about a month and is rapidly declining.

Iran, however, has always maintained that it will never seek a bomb and its nuclear programme is strictly peaceful. The IAEA has confirmed that Iran is currently not engaging in 90 percent enrichment required to have a bomb.

In an interview on Friday, however, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warned that Iran must give his inspectors “unfettered access” if it wishes to avoid further problems.

Iran and the global nuclear watchdog have had disagreements in recent months over several outstanding issues. Grossi’s visit to Tehran a week prior to the Vienna talks did not lead to an agreement or joint statement, but the two sides agreed to maintain dialogue.

Grossi met the chief Iranian and US negotiators in Vienna as well, highlighting the agency’s “indispensable verification role”.

Source: Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...uclear-deal-stand-after-seven-rounds-of-talks

 

Betcha biden wants to send Harris over to do the negotiating cause, you know, kneel with dignity.

 

Fake patriots like Trump and his treasonous conservative/Republicans love to use our troops and veterans for emotional props when it suits their purposes but constantly prove they do not give a shit about them and will lie and degrade them when they don't suit their political agenda.



And remember this was all just a phony stunt anyway. Trump had taken us to the brink of war with Iran and they had to retaliate for the assassination of General Soleimani . So Putin brokered a deal where Iran could attack our base but warn US troops in advance so they could get in their bunkers. Then since Trump could claim no US troops were killed or wounded he could stand down and not launch retaliatory strikes against Iran. That was how we got out of the crisis but Trump with the help of treasonous conservative/Republicans had to keep lying about no troops being seriously wounded. And that lie is now exposed once again.

Just like this.

39 troops whose injuries in Iraq were downplayed by Trump will now get Purple Hearts

December 8, 2021


WASHINGTON – The Army more than doubled the number of Purple Heart medals awarded to soldiers wounded at their base in Iraq in a retaliatory Iranian missile attack Jan. 8, 2020, officials announced Wednesday.

The Army notified 39 soldiers Wednesday that they will receive the medals that acknowledge their wounds and grant them eligibility for a variety of entitlements.

Former President Donald Trump had minimized the traumatic brain injuries the soldiers suffered, and the Pentagon downplayed the extent of their injuries for weeks as the U.S.-Iranian conflict threatened to escalate.

The attack and its aftermath had largely receded from public view until last month. USA TODAY first reported that a U.S. commander at Al Asad at the time of the attack had been pushing for his soldiers to receive Purple Heart medals but had been instructed by his superiors not to inquire about the issue or re-submit paperwork.


Army Col. Paul Fix, of the Minnesota National Guard, in an Oct. 6, 2021 memo to Army officials, noted that 69 of his soldiers had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury from the attack. Officials medically evacuated 25 soldiers, 41 required more than a week of rest and four returned to duty.

Fix informed the Army the attack was severe and that his soldiers had been left with inadequate protection.

"On January 8, 2020, Iran conducted the largest theater ballistic missile attack ever perpetrated against U.S. forces," Fix wrote.

Iran launched the attack in retaliation for the Jan. 2, 2020, U.S. drone strike near Baghdad's airport that killed Gen. Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force, part of the country's hard-line paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps. His killing was defensive, according to U.S. officials who said Soleimani had been planning attacks on American diplomats and troops.

The fog surrounding the Jan. 8, 2020 attack on Al Asad thickened fast. U.S. military officials announced within hours that no casualties had been suffered after theater ballistic missiles slammed into the base. But it soon became clear that there was extensive damage to buildings and equipment, and that dozens of troops there had suffered concussions from the massive explosions.

It took the Pentagon more than a month to acknowledge that more than 100 troops had suffered traumatic brain injuries, and that several of them had to be medically evacuated.

Trump, in a news conference, minimized the troops' wounds.

"I don’t consider them very serious injuries, relative to other injuries that I’ve seen," Trump said after the attack. "No, I do not consider that to be bad injuries."

A soldier at the base, who continues to suffer symptoms of traumatic brain injury nearly two years after the attack, told USA TODAY that it was miraculous that no troops were killed.

On the same date, the Revolutionary Guard mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian civilian airliner in Tehran, killing 176 people. Iranian troops fired a surface-to-air missile at the plane, believing it was a U.S. warplane responding to their attack on Al Asad. Among the dead were 63 Canadian citizens.

With Wednesday's announcement, 69 soldiers have received Purple Heart medals. More may be coming.

"They continue to review an additional 11 nominations, which will be decided on the individual merits,” Lt. Col. Gabe Ramirez, an Army spokesman, said Wednesday.

Purple Heart medals entitle recipients to priority health retirement from the Veterans Affairs Department, preferences in hiring for federal jobs and eligibility for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Dwight Mears, an author, West Point graduate and former history professor at the military academy who researches military medals, said high-level political interference in lower-level medals like the Purple Heart is unusual. Former President Trump shattered that norm.

Trump interceded on behalf of troops accused of war crimes: in the case of retired Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, a Special Forces soldier, Trump pardoned for alleged murder in Afghanistan.

"If military leaders learned anything from some of these examples, it was likely to avoid contradicting the White House in public or otherwise," Mears said.





https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-al-asad-attack-get-purple-hearts/6434992001/

 

So the killing of General Soleimani was most definitely not what was told.

 

Trump should be charged under "Stolen Valor" laws for lying about how many and how seriously of our troops were wounded and deny them Purple Hearts and the benefits that come with them so he and treasonous conservative/Republicans could continue to lie about what really happened and degrade them and their injuries.

And one way to right those wrongs is to get Iran back in the Nuclear Deal.

Iran nuclear deal talks resume in Vienna amid frictions
The deal’s remaining signatories meet as European countries urge Iran to bring ‘realistic proposals’ to ease negotiations.


Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria, December 3, 2021 [EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via Reuters]
Published On 9 Dec 20219 Dec 2021
|
Updated:
4 hours ago
Negotiations between Iran and world powers aimed at salvaging a tattered 2015 nuclear deal have resumed in Vienna after a few days’ pause, with tensions high after Tehran made demands last week that European countries strongly criticised.

European Union diplomat Enrique Mora, who chaired Thursday’s meeting of all the deal’s remaining signatories – Iran, the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China – said afterwards that he felt “a renewed sense of purpose on the need to work and to reach an agreement on bringing the (agreement) back to life”.


“Whether that will be confirmed and endorsed by negotiations on the details, we will see in the coming days,” Mora said, adding that the positive impression “has to be tested”.

He said that it is becoming “more imperative” with time to reach an agreement quickly.

Iran’s top negotiator in nuclear talks said he had insisted Tehran was serious in the negotiations, underlining that Iran was continuing talks based on its previous positions.

“Iran is serious about reaching an agreement if the ground is paved …. The fact that all sides want the talks to continue shows that all parties want to narrow the gaps,” Ali Bagheri Kani told reporters after talks resumed in Vienna.

The United States has participated indirectly in the talks because it withdrew from the accord in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden has signalled that he wants to rejoin the deal. Washington plans to send a delegation led by Robert Malley, the special US envoy for Iran, to Vienna over the weekend.

Diplomats from the UK, France and Germany had urged Tehran to come back with “realistic proposals” after the Iranian delegation made numerous demands last week that other parties to the accord deemed unacceptable. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said this week that the US hopes the next round of talks “proceeds differently”.

Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Vienna as the talks were set to resume, said Iranian officials have warned that the comments from European officials could harm the talks.

“The Iranian foreign minister himself had a phone conversation with the EU’s top diplomat during which he stressed that the comments that have come from the EU are not constructive and they could really have a damaging effect on these talks,” she said.

“There is a sense that the next 48 hours will be very crucial,” she added.

Mikhail Ulyanov
@Amb_Ulyanov
The delegations of #China, #Iran and #Russia meet in Palais Coburg in preparation of an official meeting of the Joint Commission on #JCPOA to be held later today.

2:33 AM · Dec 9, 2021

Kani held a trilateral meeting with the Chinese and Russian delegations ahead of the talks with all the deal’s signatories.

Russia’s top representative Mikhail Ulyanov at the Vienna talks expressed hope that an agreement could eventually be reached. He believes that contacts with the US and Iran “prove that both sides are very serious” about reviving the deal, though “their visions of relevant ways and means differ,” he said on Twitter.

“The task of the negotiators is to overcome these differences. It’s feasible in the light of unity of purpose,” he said.

Last week’s talks were the first in more than five months, a gap caused by a new conservative government assuming power in Tehran.




Video Duration 02 minutes 19 seconds 02:19
Iran chief negotiator says nuclear proposals ‘cannot be rejected’
The accord sealed in Vienna in 2015, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was meant to rein in Iran’s nuclear programme in return for loosened economic sanctions.

Following the US decision to withdraw and reimpose sanctions against Iran, Tehran has ramped up its nuclear programme again by enriching uranium beyond the thresholds allowed in the agreement.

Iran has also restricted monitors from the United Nations’ atomic watchdog from accessing its nuclear facilities, raising concerns about what the country is doing out of view.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said on Thursday that the Biden administration is moving to tighten enforcement of sanctions against Iran with the dispatch of a senior delegation to the United Arab Emirates next week.

The delegation, which will include the head of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Andrea Gacki, will issue a warning to companies in the UAE that are not in compliance with the sanctions, a State Department spokesperson was cited as saying by the Reuters news agency.

The spokesperson said the US has evidence of non-compliance, and that the firms could later be sanctioned or penalised over their dealings – confirming a Wall Street Journal report.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...clear-deal-resume-in-vienna-amid-disagreement

 

US delegation to head to Vienna for indirect Iran nuclear talks
The Biden administration still believes revival of nuclear deal is ‘viable option’, State Department spokesman says.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021...ead-to-vienna-for-indirect-iran-nuclear-talks

 

US ‘privileging path of diplomacy’ with Iran, Biden’s envoy says
Robert Malley tells Al Jazeera return to nuclear deal is in ‘mutual interest’ of US and Iran as indirect talks resume in Vienna.


'We're fully committed to a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA,' says Robert Malley, the US special envoy for Iran [File: Screengrab/Al Jazeera]
By Al Jazeera Staff
Published On 9 Dec 20219 Dec 2021
The Biden administration is prioritising diplomacy in its relationship with Tehran, the US special envoy for Iran has told Al Jazeera, stressing that reviving the Iran nuclear deal remains in the “mutual interest” of both countries.

In an interview on Thursday, Robert Malley said restoring the nuclear pact, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is still possible.

Keep reading
Iran nuclear deal talks resume in Vienna amid frictions
US, Israel to discuss drills for Iran worst-case scenario: Report
US delegation to head to Vienna for indirect Iran nuclear talks
“We’re fully committed to a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA,” Malley said. “We think there’s still time to do it if Iran comes back and says they’re prepared to roll up their sleeves and do it, too.”

His comments came as nuclear talks resumed in Vienna on Thursday, with a United States delegation headed by Malley expected to join the negotiations on the weekend.

Malley and his team have not been participating directly in the discussions, but engaging the Iranians through intermediaries from countries that remain parties to the 2015 deal – the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany.


Malley also reiterated Washington’s call for direct negotiations with Tehran, telling Al Jazeera that US negotiators are prepared to meet Iranian diplomats “at any time and any place”.

Iran previously rejected that offer, saying the US – which withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump – is no longer part of the agreement. Tehran is holding talks with the signatories of the deal as part of the JCPOA commission.

“We’re prepared to meet with them face-to-face,” Malley said. “We think it’s far superior to indirect negotiations. And we’re dealing with something this complex, with so much mistrust, with so much potential for misunderstanding.”

US and European officials had voiced disappointment with Iran’s posture after the resumption of the Vienna talks last week, accusing Tehran of not showing seriousness in the effort to restore the pact.

The ongoing seventh round of negotiations was the first under conservative Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Asked about the prospect of a military confrontation with Tehran amid growing tension between Israel and Iran, Malley said: “We are privileging the path of diplomacy. We think it’s the best way. It’s best for us. We suspect it’s best for Iran, but Iran will have to decide.”




Trump unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and started a “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against the Iranian economy that his successor Joe Biden has continued to enforce.

Tehran has been escalating its programme in response to Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.

Iranian officials say they want all the sanctions lifted immediately, while the US administration is calling for a mutual return to compliance that would see an end to nuclear-related sanctions and a scaling back of Iran’s nuclear programme.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced new sanctions against two Iranian security agencies and several officials linked to them, citing human rights abuses.

That prompted a rebuke from Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh, who said on Twitter that “doubling down on sanctions won’t create leverage—and is anything but seriousness & goodwill”.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Thursday that the only way for Iran to get sanctions relief is to return to nuclear compliance with the JCPOA, however.

That was reiterated by Malley, who said the US remained “prepared to get back into the deal as soon as possible – as soon as Iran is”.

“Then we would lift all of the sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA. But in the meantime, we can’t stand by and not be prepared for a world in which Iran may be choosing to delay the programme, [and] try to build more leverage,” he said.

“We obviously have to respond. And so, that’s what we’re doing. We’re preparing ourselves for that outcome.”

Source: Al Jazeera

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/9/us-privileging-path-of-diplomacy-with-iran-biden-envoy-says