Nuclear Inspectors Are To Partially Resume Monitoring Of Sites
Editor’s Note: Diplomats representing Germany and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are working with Iranian representatives to restore the Iranian nuclear deal (JCPOA). The talks first started in 2019. They continued this year. Now diplomats involved say the next few weeks are critical make-it-or-break-it time. Iran is getting closer to building a nuclear weapon. Iran, meanwhile, is asking the United States to waive nuclear-related sanctions and add oil to the list of products that the country can trade. Journalist Ramsha Zubairi reports on recent developments.
December 23, 2021–Talks to restore Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in Vienna came to a halt on Friday. Today, they are officially scheduled to resume on Monday, December 27. It marks the eighth round of talks.
Enrique Mora, the lead diplomat for the European Union, said on Twitter it’s “important to pick up the pace on key outstanding issues and move forward,” while working closely with the United States. Earlier, Mora cited technical progress but said that takes discussions back to where they stood last June.
‘Weeks Not Months’
Speaking on the urgency of the situation at a recent press conference, Mora said, “We don’t have months but rather weeks to reach an agreement.”
The lead U.S. diplomat reflected similar sentiments. U.S. Special Envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, told CNN that he sees Iran getting closer to having the capacity to building a nuclear weapon.
“If they continue at their current pace, we have some weeks left but not much more than that, at which point, I think, the conclusion will be that there’s no deal to be revived,” Malley said.
CNN, on Dec. 21, 2021
JCPOA Off Track
In 2018, the then US President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPOA and reinstated sanctions against Iran. Following the U.S. withdraw, Tehran gradually expanded its nuclear program and enriched uranium of up to 60 percent. That exceeds the threshold in the accord.
Although Iran continues to insist that its nuclear program is peaceful, Iranians blocked international oversight of it. In February 2021, Iran restricted the implementation of the “voluntary transparency measures” of its atomic plants by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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IAEA-Iran Agreement
This December, the IAEA and Iran came to an agreement to resume the monitoring of Iran’s Karaj centrifuge component manufacturing workshop. However, the hardline Iranian parliament is planning to block access to the recordings from the camera, according to reporting by Al Jazeera.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the verification job for inspectors will be like putting together pieces of a puzzle. The problem, however is that there’s been a gap in monitoring nuclear activites.
“The first thing you have to do is put the camera back. And this we are going to do,” Grossi said. The inspectors will use the tools they have to assess the situation. Grossi said it will be “difficult but not impossible” to do.
Talks to Restore JCPOA Prove Difficult
Preliminary talks to restore the nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as it was formerly known, began in 2019. The United States joined indirectly earlier this year. That came in May after the start of President Joe Biden’s administration. Elections in Iran in June 2021 put the talks on pause. Then, talks resumed November 29th in Vienna, Austria, where the IAEA is headquartered.
The primary negotiators represent the United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, Russia and Iran. The United States participated indirectly.
Last week Iran proposed two documents that proposed the lifting of all sanctions imposed on Iran and the steps Iran needs to take to scale back its nuclear program that has significantly advanced since 2019.
“The only solution is the commitment of all parties to the full, effective, and verifiable implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action; no more, no less — as we have stated time and again,” said Takht Ravanchi, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Follow the link below to see a timeline of talks and sanctions.
Sanctions
Iran is pushing for relief from U.S. sanctions. (Editor’s note: It’s noteworthy that Iran is not only asking for waivers on the nuclear-related sanctions, but wants the United States to lift terrorism-related sanctions as well).
“Obviously, Iran must be assured that all sanctions will be lifted; the US will not withdraw from the accord again, and it will not abuse the procedures set out in the JCPOA and resolution 2231,” Ravanchi said.
Dmitry A. Polyansky, Russian UN representative, said he thinks it is “dangerous and irresponsible” to stray from the JCPOA. Addressing a UN Security Council meeting, he said there is no alternative.
“Allegations that the JCPOA might have become outdated and might need any updates, extensions, etc. are perilous and irresponsible.The deal features a carefully-calibrated balance of interests. It must be implemented in the form in which it was adopted back in 2015, without extracting or adding anything,” said Polyansky.
Polyansky maintained that the United States played “the main wrecker role” by leaving the JCPOA under the Trump presidency in 2018, and should, therefore, confirm with the JCPOA with its actions.
Meanwhile, Nicolas De Rivière, France’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, said the survival of the Iranian nuclear deal is under great threat. He stressed that the restoration of JCPOA is “our last chance.”
The P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States) remains of the opinion that Iran continues to raise “new nuclear provocations,” staking out unrealistic, maximalist positions on nuclear and sanctions issues, stated Barbara Woodward, United Kingdom’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN.
“The seventh round of the Vienna talks was successful in a sense that it prepared sound basis for more intensive negotiations. It is fully confirmed that further work will be based on the results of the previous rounds,” Russia’s chief negotiator, Mikhail Ulyanov, said in a tweet.
Speaking on the eighth round of the talks, Ulyanov added that Iran, Russia and other participants share the view that it “can become the final one”.
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