Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in an interview on Sunday, February 6, said that the US decision to resume the sanctions waiver to some countries is not a serious enough move that can help the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the Iran nuclear deal. He added that such actions taken on paper could be a positive step but Iran is looking for real action.
On Friday, the US administration of Joe Biden had announced the restoration of the sanctions waiver which was withdrawn by the previous Donald Trump administration in May 2020 under its so-called Maximum pressure campaign against Iran. The waiver from sanctions allows Russian, Chinese and European companies to carry out their engagements of “non-proliferation” at Iran’s nuclear sites without any threat of punitive action.
“We look at what happens on the ground. We have to see the Americans’ practical behavior regarding the sanctions removal in an objective and tangible manner,” Abdollahian said in an interview with IRIB, Press TV reported.
In a statement following the announcement of the sanctions waiver, the US state department claimed that the move is “designed to facilitate discussion” on the JCPOA, ongoing in Vienna, and will be a big relief to Iran.
Reacting to the news, Sayed Mohammad Marandi, who has been part of the Iranian negotiating team in Vienna, called the move misleading.
Extremely misleading. The US has done absolutely nothing to end "maximum pressure" sanctions targeting innocent citizens.
While preserving Iran's rights, any deal must comprehensively & verifiably remove all of the barbaric sanctions & credible assurances must also be provided. pic.twitter.com/7f8jnbAoqX
— Seyed Mohammad Marandi (@s_m_marandi) February 5, 2022
On Saturday, Abdollahian asserted that the US sanctions waiver is not enough and demanded a “guarantee at all political, legal and economic levels.”
All US sanctions imposed post May 2018 must go
Before it reverts back to its commitments, Iran has demanded the removal of all US sanctions imposed after Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the deal in May 2018. Iran has also demanded guarantees that sanctions will not be reimposed in future. However, the US has been insisting that it cannot give any guarantees but Iran must revert back to full compliance under the deal before the sanctions imposed during the Trump administration are removed.
The US has also tried to link the sanctions removal with Iranian regional policies and its record on human rights. Iran has strongly objected to all such attempts, asserting that the ongoing talks are only about the JCPOA and related sanctions.
The indirect talks between Iran and the US along with remaining signatories of the JCPOA – Germany, France, the UK, China and Russia – have been taking place in Austrian capital Vienna for almost a year now. A break in the current eighth round of talks, which started on December 27 last year, was announced earlier this month.
According to claims made by some of the participants, the break in the talks is to facilitate further consultation on the agreed upon technical aspects of the deal. According to them, all technical aspects necessary for the resumption of the deal have been finalized. The US and the others are expected to take the final political decision for the resumption of the deal.
