Iran delivers deadline response to draft nuclear deal

Iran delivers deadline response to draft nuclear deal

Politico-Aug 15 th 2022

By STEPHANIE LIECHTENSTEIN and NAHAL TOOSI

VIENNA — Iran still has reservations about a draft deal to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement it struck with world powers, Iranian and Western officials said Monday. It was the latest sign that talks to restore the deal could drag well past what some had earlier described as a Monday deadline.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said his country hoped to share its ”final thoughts” with European officials by the end of the day.

According to one senior Western official, the Iranian answer was received by the EU on Monday evening Brussels time. The response is mostly focused on outstanding questions related to sanctions and guarantees around economic engagement. Over the last few months, Iran has continuously demanded assurance that it will be able to reap the economic benefits of a restored deal.

According to that same official, the Iranian reply does not contain any further demands with regard to the investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into the origins of multiple traces of nuclear material that IAEA inspectors found at various sites in Iran during the past few years. Tehran has objected to the investigation and insists that the nuclear deal can only be restored if this probe by the IAEA is closed, once and for all.

The EU has drafted a proposal that will allow that to happen if the IAEA confirms that Iran has provided credible answers into the origin of the uranium traces prior to the so-called reimplementation day — the day that the nuclear deal will go into effect. But the proposal would also enable Iran to block reimplementation day, should the probe remain open.

There is no final confirmation that Iran has accepted this EU proposed deal on the IAEA safeguards investigation — or whether Iran has taken it off the table — but it seems at least in the current reply, there is no more mention of it.

Amir-Abdollahian’s remarks came as Iran’s Supreme National Security Council held an extraordinary meeting Monday afternoon, which was chaired by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. At the meeting, Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani presented a detailed report about the nuclear talks, according to Nour News, a website linked to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.