TEHRAN -- Iran’s lead negotiator in the ongoing Vienna negotiations on the revival of the 2015 Iran deal said Sunday other countries targeted by sanctions are on the lookout for Iran’s “sanctions nullifying knowledge”.
Ali Bagheri Kani made the remarks during a visit to the 26th edition of the International Oil, Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Exhibition here.
He said Iranian energy experts have turned the “art of circumventing sanctions” from their only tool against the “smart sanctions” of the George W. Bush-era, into a “technology” for countering Barack Obama’s “crippling sanctions,” and then into a “knowledge” for neutralizing Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign of sanctions.”
“Now, the other countries under sanctions are also seeking to obtain the sanctions neutralizing knowledge from Iran,” he added.
The United States, under former President Donald Trump, unilaterally left the Iran deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and launched a maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic, despite the latter’s full adherence to its commitments under the deal.
According to Bagheri Kani, the capability of Iranian craftsmen and scientists to nullify sanctions not only significantly reinforces Tehran’s diplomatic prowess to do away with sanctions, but also remarkably boosts the country’s deterrent power in the face of the brutal sanctions.
The strategic policy of nullifying sanctions, he continued, together with a clever initiative to remove the sanctions, have brought the enemy’s ploys aimed at hindering the country’s development to a failure.
The top diplomat, who also serves as Iran’s deputy foreign minister, noted that the durability of “the removal of sanctions” hinges on maintaining and developing Tehran’s soft and hard capabilities to neutralize sanctions.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran, as serious as it is in the process of negotiating and fulfilling its international obligations, including [achievement of a possible] agreement to remove the sanctions, is also as firm in its distrust of the enemy and its lack of reliance on foreigners in order to remain immune to sanctions,” he added.
Since April 2021, several rounds of talks between Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA – Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia – have been held in the Austrian capital to bring the U.S. back into the deal.
The Vienna talks, however, exclude American diplomats due to their country’s withdrawal from the deal.
Talks have been on hold since March as the U.S. insists on its refusal to undo past wrongs, including the removal of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) from its foreign terrorist organization list.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said via Twitter on Friday that Tehran and the P4+1 group of countries still have a chance to reach a “good and reliable” agreement if the United States makes the necessary decision and honors its commitments.