Sineva
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Make of this what you will,but I suspect that this is no more the "final draft" than any of the previous versions were.
Indeed without satisfactory solutions,at least from irans perspective,to the problems of the irgcs delisting,guarantees that the west will abide by the deal,and also that the iaea will put the pmd file back to bed where it belongs.,then I donr see that theres much there for iran to agree to.
Unlike rouhani I cant see raisi agreeing to a deal that might work on paper but not in reality,after all hes had almost a year to do just that if that was what he wanted.
One gets the very real feeling that not only does the west think that it should be perfectly okay for it to rejoin the deal without having to pay any political costs for its trumpist era stupidities,but that it is in fact iran who should be the one offering the concessions.
I for one remain very pessimistic.
U.S. and European officials announced Monday that a text for restoring the 2015 nuclear accord had been completed and that negotiations were finished, saying Iran must now decide whether to take or leave the deal.
A senior European Union official said the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will now write to the U.S., Iran and the other negotiating parties, setting out next steps for approving a deal. The official said Iran would have “very, very few weeks” to decide whether to revive the deal.
Iranian officials pushed back immediately saying they had already conveyed an initial response to the draft and would come back with additional views at a later point.
“The text tabled by the coordinator stretches us all to the limits of our flexibility,” said a senior European diplomat. “This marks the end of almost a year and a half of negotiations. Time for final decisions now.”
The senior European official said Western diplomats were leaving Vienna now and there would be no further changes to the text on the table.
“Now the ball is in the different capitals’ court and…we will see what happens,” the official said.
The 2015 nuclear agreement placed strict but temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting most international sanctions on Iran. Former President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the accord in May 2018 and a year later, Iran started systematically breaching the terms of the agreement. It has since massively expanded its nuclear program.
The Biden administration has set reviving the accord as one of its main foreign policy goals, planning to use it to negotiate a stronger, broader agreement with Iran. The prospects for any such broader agreement with Tehran look dim.
A State Department spokesperson said the Biden administration now stands ready to “quickly conclude a deal” based around the EU text. The official said Iran has repeatedly said they are prepared to restore the deal.
“As the EU Coordinator has made clear, this text is the only possible basis on which to do so. Let’s see if their actions match their words,” the official noted.
The negotiations, which have dragged on since April 2021, have faced growing criticism from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress. Iran’s nuclear advances in recent years mean that any revived deal will leave Iran much closer to being able to produce enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb than originally envisaged under the 2015 deal. Some of the deal’s limits on Iran’s nuclear activities will start to expire in the next few years.
In Tehran, the negotiations have also come under fire from some, who fear the U.S. will again leave a revived deal and reimpose hefty sanctions on Tehran after the U.S. 2024 presidential elections. Iran has at various points sought guarantees that the U.S. won’t in the future withdraw from the deal but hasn’t received those assurances.
Iran and the U.S., who don’t negotiate directly, came close to completing a deal in March but the talks stalled over several Iranian demands. In recent days, negotiations had centered on Iran’s demand that it could only restore the 2015 agreement if the United Nations atomic agency first shelves a three-year long investigation of undeclared nuclear material found in Iran.
U.S. and European officials have repeatedly said they won’t give that commitment and that Iran must accept or reject the deal without it.
The senior EU official said Iran’s concerns about the International Atomic Energy Agency probe would need to be addressed between Tehran and the agency.
“That is something external which has nothing to do with the nuclear accord,” he said.
The Iranian negotiating team is set to return to Tehran in the coming hours.
A senior foreign ministry official said Iran had already conveyed its initial response to the EU’s senior negotiator, Enrique Mora, on the draft text and will send further comments and opinions in coming days.
Iranian state media reported that in a phone call on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Mr. Borrell that Iran “expected that all sides show determination and seriousness to reach the final text of the agreement.”
Earlier Monday, Iranian media had cited the foreign ministry dismissing the idea that the text was close to being finalized, saying there were still “a few important remaining issues” to be resolved.
On Twitter, Mr. Borrell underlined the uncertainty the revival of the nuclear deal now faces.
“What can be negotiated has been negotiated, and it’s now in a final text. However, behind every technical issue and every paragraph lies a political decision that needs to be taken in the capitals. If these answers are positive, then we can sign this deal,” he wrote.
Western officials have been saying for months that it is time for Iran to decide whether to accept the deal. Yet Iran has twice brought senior U.S. and EU negotiators back to the table—first in Doha in June and in recent days in Vienna—to push for further changes.
However with midterm elections approaching in the U.S. and Iran already amassing enough highly enriched material for a nuclear weapon, Western officials have said the talks can’t drag on. U.S. officials have said in recent weeks they feared Tehran’s leadership hadn’t decided whether they should revive the deal.
Michael R. Gordon contributed to this article.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
Indeed without satisfactory solutions,at least from irans perspective,to the problems of the irgcs delisting,guarantees that the west will abide by the deal,and also that the iaea will put the pmd file back to bed where it belongs.,then I donr see that theres much there for iran to agree to.
Unlike rouhani I cant see raisi agreeing to a deal that might work on paper but not in reality,after all hes had almost a year to do just that if that was what he wanted.
One gets the very real feeling that not only does the west think that it should be perfectly okay for it to rejoin the deal without having to pay any political costs for its trumpist era stupidities,but that it is in fact iran who should be the one offering the concessions.
I for one remain very pessimistic.
EU Presents ‘Final Text’ to Iran for Reviving Nuclear Deal
Iranian officials say they already highlighted reservations about EU text, raising doubts over deal
U.S. and European officials announced Monday that a text for restoring the 2015 nuclear accord had been completed and that negotiations were finished, saying Iran must now decide whether to take or leave the deal.
A senior European Union official said the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will now write to the U.S., Iran and the other negotiating parties, setting out next steps for approving a deal. The official said Iran would have “very, very few weeks” to decide whether to revive the deal.
Iranian officials pushed back immediately saying they had already conveyed an initial response to the draft and would come back with additional views at a later point.
“The text tabled by the coordinator stretches us all to the limits of our flexibility,” said a senior European diplomat. “This marks the end of almost a year and a half of negotiations. Time for final decisions now.”
The senior European official said Western diplomats were leaving Vienna now and there would be no further changes to the text on the table.
“Now the ball is in the different capitals’ court and…we will see what happens,” the official said.
The 2015 nuclear agreement placed strict but temporary restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting most international sanctions on Iran. Former President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the accord in May 2018 and a year later, Iran started systematically breaching the terms of the agreement. It has since massively expanded its nuclear program.
The Biden administration has set reviving the accord as one of its main foreign policy goals, planning to use it to negotiate a stronger, broader agreement with Iran. The prospects for any such broader agreement with Tehran look dim.
A State Department spokesperson said the Biden administration now stands ready to “quickly conclude a deal” based around the EU text. The official said Iran has repeatedly said they are prepared to restore the deal.
“As the EU Coordinator has made clear, this text is the only possible basis on which to do so. Let’s see if their actions match their words,” the official noted.
The negotiations, which have dragged on since April 2021, have faced growing criticism from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress. Iran’s nuclear advances in recent years mean that any revived deal will leave Iran much closer to being able to produce enough enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb than originally envisaged under the 2015 deal. Some of the deal’s limits on Iran’s nuclear activities will start to expire in the next few years.
In Tehran, the negotiations have also come under fire from some, who fear the U.S. will again leave a revived deal and reimpose hefty sanctions on Tehran after the U.S. 2024 presidential elections. Iran has at various points sought guarantees that the U.S. won’t in the future withdraw from the deal but hasn’t received those assurances.
Iran and the U.S., who don’t negotiate directly, came close to completing a deal in March but the talks stalled over several Iranian demands. In recent days, negotiations had centered on Iran’s demand that it could only restore the 2015 agreement if the United Nations atomic agency first shelves a three-year long investigation of undeclared nuclear material found in Iran.
U.S. and European officials have repeatedly said they won’t give that commitment and that Iran must accept or reject the deal without it.
The senior EU official said Iran’s concerns about the International Atomic Energy Agency probe would need to be addressed between Tehran and the agency.
“That is something external which has nothing to do with the nuclear accord,” he said.
The Iranian negotiating team is set to return to Tehran in the coming hours.
A senior foreign ministry official said Iran had already conveyed its initial response to the EU’s senior negotiator, Enrique Mora, on the draft text and will send further comments and opinions in coming days.
Iranian state media reported that in a phone call on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told Mr. Borrell that Iran “expected that all sides show determination and seriousness to reach the final text of the agreement.”
Earlier Monday, Iranian media had cited the foreign ministry dismissing the idea that the text was close to being finalized, saying there were still “a few important remaining issues” to be resolved.
On Twitter, Mr. Borrell underlined the uncertainty the revival of the nuclear deal now faces.
“What can be negotiated has been negotiated, and it’s now in a final text. However, behind every technical issue and every paragraph lies a political decision that needs to be taken in the capitals. If these answers are positive, then we can sign this deal,” he wrote.
Western officials have been saying for months that it is time for Iran to decide whether to accept the deal. Yet Iran has twice brought senior U.S. and EU negotiators back to the table—first in Doha in June and in recent days in Vienna—to push for further changes.
However with midterm elections approaching in the U.S. and Iran already amassing enough highly enriched material for a nuclear weapon, Western officials have said the talks can’t drag on. U.S. officials have said in recent weeks they feared Tehran’s leadership hadn’t decided whether they should revive the deal.
Michael R. Gordon contributed to this article.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
