TEHRAN -- Iran’s top security official said Wednesday there is “no coherence” in the decisions of American officials on the revival of the 2015 Iran deal, asserting that the U.S. administration cannot impose the cost of its internal disputes on Iran.
On Tuesday, Iran and the other parties to the deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), gathered in Vienna to resume the eighth round of talks aimed at reviving the accord by removing sanctions on Tehran.
The U.S. has so far failed to do away with its “maximum pressure” sanctions, which it imposed on Iran after the former pulled out of the JCPOA, and give guarantees that a future administration will not ditch the deal again.
“Voices from the U.S. show that there is no coherence in the country to make political decisions in the direction of advancement in the #ViennaTalks,” Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani tweeted.
“The U.S. administration cannot pay for its internal disputes by violating #Iran’s legal rights,” he added.
In a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday, a group of 33 Republican senators led by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said any deal with Iran on restoring the JCPOA required the Senate approval.
The senators warned Biden that they would do everything in their power to block a possible deal if he moved forward without them.
They warned that the “implementation of any agreement will be severely if not terminally hampered” if the Biden administration did not fulfill a range of obligations in relation to Congressional oversight over any agreement.
Any deal that does not have Senate approval, they continued, will be “subject to being reversed” as soon as there is a new president.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian reiterated Iran’s readiness to reach a good deal in Vienna talks, stressing, however, that there will be no swift progress in the negotiations unless the Western side adopts a realistic approach.
In a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Amir-Abdollahian described Moscow’s position on Tehran’s nuclear issue as constructive.
“The Islamic Republic is resolutely seeking a good agreement within the framework of its interests and rights,” the top Iranian diplomat said.
“Iran stands ready to reach such an agreement as soon as possible, but without the Western side’s realism and its tangible and real measures, no swift progress will be achieved in the negotiations.”
An effective removal of sanctions is very important, he said, stressing that Iran will continue its consultations and contacts with Russia and other parties.
Lavrov, for his part, underlined the importance of reviving the 2015 nuclear deal and removing the illegal sanctions.
All parties to the JCPOA, and in the first place the United States, must return to their commitments, he said, noting that Moscow has always stressed the need to stop destructive measures against the accord and understands Tehran’s concerns.
Lavrov also welcomed the Iranian side’s stance on the need to increase the speed of the Vienna talks and make them result-oriented.
Russia, he asserted, is fully committed to honoring its obligations in bilateral relations with Iran, and calls for enhanced cooperation between the two countries in various areas.
A source close to the Iranian negotiating team told Tasnim news agency that Iran has made its political decision.
“The main obstacle is the lack of political decision-making by the United States. Washington should be concerned about missing the opportunity,” the source said.
Iranian officials have repeatedly said the onus us on the United States to remove all illegal sanctions against the Islamic Republic in a verifiable manner and guarantee that a new U.S. administration would not breach the JCPOA once again.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump unilaterally left the JCPOA in May 2018 and reimposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the deal had lifted. He also placed additional sanctions on Iran under other pretexts not related to the nuclear case as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign.
In May 2019, following a year of strategic patience, Iran decided to let go of some of the restrictions on its nuclear energy program, resorting to its legal rights under the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of non-compliance by the other side.
The U.S. administration of President Joe Biden says it is willing to compensate for Trump’s mistake and rejoin the deal, but it has retained the sanctions as leverage.