Iran responds to EU text on reviving nuclear deal
Iran response comes after Iran FM Amir-Abdollahian seemed to make a more robust case for reaching a deal: “What the people want from us is an outcome from these negotiations.”
“It seems they ask for tricky things on sanctions,” an EU official said of Iran response.
The European Union and United States confirmed that they had received Iran’s response to a compromise text reached in Vienna last week on restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear pact, officials said.
“We have received Iran’s comments through the EU and are studying them,” a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday (Aug. 16). “We are sharing our views with the EU.”
The Iranian response was “only on sanctions lifting issues,” one EU official said on Monday (Aug. 15).
Does that mean they accept the rest of the 35-page text?
“One can carefully interpret it this way,” the EU official said. “But it seems they ask tricky things on sanctions.”
Earlier Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian seemed to make a more robust case for reaching a deal that involves a measure of compromise than Iranian officials publicly had recently, telling reporters that the Iranian people expect results from the negotiations.
“What the people want from us is an outcome from these negotiations,” Amir-Abdollahian told reporters at a press conference in Tehran on Aug. 15, Iranian journalist Sara Massoumi reported, according to a translation tweeted by Bloomberg’s Golnar Motevalli. “They’ve said, ‘You’ve talked and negotiated for long enough.’ The people want to see results from us.”
“The American side has recently shown verbal flexibility in two issues, but this should be written [in the text],” Amir-Abdollahian said, according to Tehran Times’ Saeed Azimi. “It is important that the issue of guarantees is dealt with by the U.S. with a realistic approach.”
If Iran’s “views are secured,” then “we are ready to enter the concluding stage,” the Iranian minister said, according to a translation by Iran analyst Sina Toossi.
While Iran’s majlis (parliament) “says they see issues in the EU draft, well, the other side has demands too,” Amir-Abdollahian said, according to a translation tweeted by Iranian journalist Rohollah Faghihi.
The Iranian response came after lead Iran nuclear negotiator and Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri-Kani briefed a special meeting of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council chaired by Iranian President Ebrahaim Raisi, Iran’s Nour News, close with the SNSC, reported.
It also came after Qatar Assistant Foreign Minister for Regional Affairs Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi met with Bagheri in Tehran over the weekend, and subsequently held a phone call with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi on Sunday.
Earlier Monday afternoon, before the Iranian response was sent to the EU, the State Department said it would share its response privately with the EU.
“We will share our views on the text… directly with [the EU],” State Department spokesman Ned Price told journalists at the State Department Monday. “We will do that privately. We do agree, however, with [EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s] his fundamental point, and that is that what could be negotiated has been negotiated.”
Lead US Iran envoy Rob Malley said over the weekend that the US position on the IAEA Iran safeguards issue is clear.
“Our position is transparent,” Malley told PBS’ NewsHour on Aug. 12. “We’re not going to put any pressure on the [IAEA]…to close these outstanding issues. They will be closed when Iran provides the technically credible answers that the IAEA…has requested of them. As soon as they do that, and as soon as the Agency is satisfied, we will be satisfied, but not before.”
Iran’s ISNA news agency cited an “informed source” that Iran was expecting a response from the EU/US in two days’ time, BBC media monitor Kian Sharifi reported.
Updated Tuesday (August 16) with State Department comment on receiving the text.
**