An adviser to the Iranian negotiating team in the Austrian capital of Vienna says no deal with the parties to the 2015 Iran deal will be implemented unless the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors closes its case of unsubstantiated claims against Iran .
Mohammad Marandi made the remarks on Tuesday in a post on his Twitter account in response to an earlier report by Reuters news agency that claimed Iran had abandoned some of its key demands in the negotiations.
“No deal will be implemented before the IAEA permanently closes the file on false allegations,” he wrote, stressing the removal of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the US list of so-called foreign “terrorist” organizations (FTO). never been a “prerequisite” for an agreement in Vienna.
He also denounced the report as “very misleading” and said Iran’s nuclear program was “not being dismantled”.
Very misleading. I have been saying for MONTHS that the removal of guards from the FTO is not a requirement.
No deal will go ahead until the IAEA Board of Directors PERMANENTLY closes the dossier on the false allegations.
Iran’s nuclear program will not be dismantled.https://t.co/J8OLsqlhwS
– Seyed Mohammad Marandi (@s_m_marandi) August 23, 2022
On Monday, Reuters, citing a senior US official, claimed Iran had dropped some of its key demands to revive the deal, including its insistence that international inspectors complete some investigations into its nuclear program, raising the possibility of a deal.
“They came back last week and basically dropped the main issues to a deal,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “If we’re closer today, it’s because Iran has moved. They’ve caved in to issues they’ve held onto from the start.”
Iran said last Monday that it had responded to the EU’s proposal to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal and that it is now Washington’s turn to show realism and flexibility if it really wants a final deal.
The US is said to be investigating Iran’s response to the proposals and is expected to issue its own response in days.
However, despite all the progress, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi reiterated previous accusations against the Islamic Republic, mainly under pressure from Israel, while Western officials and media expressed optimism about the completion of the diplomatic process.
In an interview with CNN on Monday, Grossi said, “Give us answers and access to people and places so we can sort out a lot of things that need sorting out,” and urged Iran to explain what it claimed “traces of.” enriched uranium” found at the country’s nuclear research sites three years ago.
At this point, Iran has already provided the IAEA with the necessary information and access. According to Iranian Nour News, Grossi is obstructing the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) through his continued political approaches amid the US administration’s delays in lifting economic sanctions on Tehran.
Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew his country from the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed draconian sanctions on Iran, despite Tehran fully honoring its commitments under the landmark agreement.
After a year of “strategic patience,” Tehran began gradually reducing its commitments under the deal in 2019, but insisted its “remedial actions” were reversible provided the other parties meet their commitments.
Since April of last year, Iran and world powers have been in ongoing negotiations to salvage the deal and lift sanctions on Iran after Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, vowed to reverse course.
However, the talks have not crossed the finish line as the Biden administration has yet to reach a policy decision on breaking Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy on Iran.
