Brussels (Brussels Morning) Iran and the US are still far from agreement on reviving their nuclear deal, with Iran accusing Western countries of “persisting in their blame game.”
Ali Bagheri, Iran’s top negotiator, said as much a day after European diplomats called for the process to be speeded up, Reuters reported.
“Some actors persist in their blame game habit, instead of real diplomacy”, Bagheri said, noting that “we proposed our ideas early, and worked constructively and flexibly to narrow gaps.”
Indirect negotiations between the US and Iran to return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) started earlier this year, but were put on hold following the Iranian elections in June.
Once Islamist Ebrahim Raisi won the election, his team returned to the negotiations in Vienna but was unwilling to compromise.
Blaming the Americans for violating the deal, Bagheri stated that they were the ones “who should compensate for that and be flexible”.
Little agreement between Iran, US
A senior US official pointed out that Iran abandoned previous compromises at the seventh round of talks and had demanded more from the West.
Iran’s position is that all sanctions must be lifted immediately, whereas the US implied it would keep in place the sanctions not connected with Iran’s nuclear programme, including those imposed for violations of human rights or terrorism.
In addition, Iran demands that the US presents guarantees that “no US administration” would withdraw from the deal again, which the Biden administration says it cannot do since the JCPOA is a non-binding political understanding and not a binding treaty.
“How can we trust Americans again? What if they ditch the deal again? Therefore the party that violated the deal should provide guarantees that it will never happen again”, Bagheri maintained. “This is their problem, not ours to solve… They can find a solution and give us guarantees.”