At the ongoing talks by the Joint Committee of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal) in Vienna, which involves the US, E3 (UK, Germany, France), Russia and China, Russia seems to have Iran’s back after the US exited the agreement, ratified by the US Congress and negotiated under the Obama administration. Under the Trump administration as well, the US exited a number of international agreements on arms control and climate.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the negotiations would have gone forward better had Washington not moved ahead with “Trump’s failed legacy” and just agreed to re-enter JCPOA and fulfilled its commitments, which includes talk by the Biden administration on who enters first and expanding the JCPOA to missile control, that had led to a severe deadlock in the recent past..
Iran, on the other hand, has incrementally increased enrichment. Meanwhile, Israel carried out a cyber attack which Iran has called “nuclear terrorism” as a blast could lead to the leaking of radioactive material in the vicinity.
The Sunday Guardian spoke to Mikhail Ulyanov, Permanent Representative of Russia at Geneva, about the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) negotiations.
Q: What›s the Russian position on Iran›s permitted stepping away and the E3, US response?
A: We are not happy with deviations of Iran from its nuclear commitments under JCPOA, but we understand that those deviations were provoked by US maximum pressure policy. At this stage, when the negotiations on restoration of the nuclear deal are under way, we call upon all our counterparts, including Iran and E-3, as well as US, to refrain from steps which can complicate the process. All existing problems can be settled shortly through an agreement on JCPOA restoration, and we need to focus on achieving this goal.
Q: Can we expect things to smoothen out in the next few meetings?
A: Yes, we can. But the process isn’t easy. It would be good to finish negotiations successfully within a month. It seems to be doable. The Biden administration too might want to curtail Iran on missiles or regional influence but there’s international pressure on his administration. Also he would find it difficult to walk back from his own comments made during Trump’s withdrawal. This would only strengthen the Satanic image of the US in Iran, that goes to elections, and Biden would have a tough time negotiating with a hardliner government in Iran, though it was Ahmadinejad himself who had been exploring the setup of the JCPOA.