TEHRAN, Iran, Oct. 4
Trend:
Iran and other signatories of JCPOA think that delaying the nuclear talks will give them the upper hand, an expert on international affairs told Trend in an interview.
Iran should make efforts to resume negotiations and the other sides are required to show goodwill, an international relations expert Hassan Beheshtipour said referring to conditions before returning to the talks in Vienna.
Indirect talks between Iran and the United States on reviving the JCPOA stopped in June before Ebrahim Raisi took office as Iranian president last month.
“The U.S. has to release Iranian blocked financial assets as a show of good faith before returning to the negotiations over the nuclear program,” he indicated.
He went on to say that the other side presumes that Iran seeks to gain an advantage by postponing the return to Vienna Talk, while Iran is waiting for a better domestic situation that depends on increasing nuclear capability and economic reform.
Beheshtipour went on to say that the new Iranian administration plans to implement economic reform, that would reduce sanctions impact to some extent, and Iran could be open for resuming negotiation.
“Iran sought the JCPOA for relief from international sanctions,” an Iranian expert said adding that if the gains by the JCPOA cannot be fully recovered, then the country would naturally postpone returning to the negotiations.
Beheshtipour noted that delaying the nuclear talks to revive the JCPOA would lead to a shrinking in Iran's economy, a deeper social class gap, and a decline in revenues.
“Iran says the US needs to cease its violations of the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Tehran and world powers without preconditions,” he said adding that the Islamic Republic is not indebted to other parties as it was fully committed to the agreement although it did not reap the benefits of the accord.
In January 2016, JCPOA was launched between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, UK, France, and Germany) in connection with Iran's nuclear program. In May 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the deal and imposed sanctions on Iran in November of the same year.
To preserve the agreements reached as part of the JCPOA, the European signatories of the deal started in January 2019 that a financial mechanism for maintaining trade with Iran called INSTEX was formed.
On May 8, 2019, Iran announced that it had ceased fulfilling its commitments regarding the sale of over 300 kilograms of uranium, as stated in the deal, basing its decision on the other signatories that have not fulfilled their obligations. On July 7, Iran announced that it will not be fulfilling its commitments regarding the enrichment of uranium at 3.67 percent and the reconstruction of the Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility as stated in the deal.
Iran announced that it will enrich uranium using next-generation centrifuges and will not mix it with the enriched uranium residues as part of the third step of reducing commitments in JCPOA on Sept.5.
On Nov. 5, 2019, Iran announced that it took the fourth step in connection with reducing its commitments to the nuclear agreement. So, uranium gas is being pumped to the centrifuges at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant. On Jan.2020, Iran took the last fifth step in reducing the number of its commitments within JCPOA.
As reported, in late 2020, the Iranian parliament has decided to implement a strategic plan to tackle the sanctions, citing the non-implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed between Iran and six countries and the imposition of sanctions on Iran. According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, as of February 23, Iran suspended the implementation of additional steps and an additional protocol provided for in the nuclear deal.
The US imposed new sanctions on Iran in November 2018. Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports, more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals.