Zarif suggests that JCPOA can be rescued by the President before taking office | Middle East News
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The outgoing Iranian Foreign Minister says there is a ‘possibility’ of an agreement reached in Vienna before the end of the term here.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has said he is optimistic about the ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at rescuing the nuclear deal with world powers, and indicated that the agreement could be held even after the newly elected President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August.
“There is a strong possibility that we will work together before the end of our career,” Zarif told Sami Zeidan of Al Jazeera at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum on Saturday, the same day the president, a self-proclaimed president, was announced as successful on Iran’s presidential election.
The 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed to ban Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions.
However, former President Donald Trump unanimously withdrew the United States from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran as part of a “major pressure” against Tehran. In response, Iran abandoned major nuclear activities, leaving the JCPOA in the spotlight.
Since April, Iran and other signatories – Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union – have been trying to find common ground on how to keep the treaty alive.
“These talks are happening right now as we speak,” Zarif said in Antalya, Turkey. “Her words are very clean. The bacteria are being removed, “he added with a smile, without elaborating.
Zarif’s courageous words contrasted with the caution that Friday was represented by Russia’s ambassador to Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov.
“Some difficult and time-consuming topics remain unresolved,” said Ulyanov, noting that progress has been made in the past few days.
The French Foreign Ministry also said on Wednesday that there were serious disagreements.
In Washington, State Spokesman Ned Price on Thursday reiterated US sentiment that talks in Vienna had progressed since they began in April but tensions remained, saying they could not set a “long-term” deadline.
Hopes of saving JCPOA have risen following Joe Biden’s promotion to the White House in January. The US president wants to revive the agreement even further, and several US-Iran talks have taken place.
The talks are not straightforward because Iran is denying face-to-face meetings, but the US has been in talks with many of the participants.
“Most of our problems are conscious,” Zarif said at the conference. “The problem is that the United States needs to recognize that it is the United States that has abandoned the treaty and the goal, and that goal has not been achieved.
“Now we’re going back to the deal, which is why it would not explain the goals that could not be achieved through the current economic war. I think this is a change in the knowledge that US officials need to make. And I think we’re going there, but not here.”
Commenting on Friday’s election in Iran, Zarif said the electoral process that brought the President to the presidency should be respected.
“From now on each one of us has to work in a certain way, whether we agree with him or not, if we like his principles or if we do not like his principles, he is now elected by the people,” he said. .
The President, although backed by activists who strongly opposed the nuclear deal, reaffirmed his commitment to end sanctions and said he would honor all commitments made by the government and previous officials, including the JCPOA.
He said, however, that he wanted to create a “strong” government to regulate cooperation in the right way.
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