Monday, December 27, 2021
Talks about atomic pact
Iran is pushing for free oil export
In Vienna, diplomats are trying to mediate between Iran and the USA in order to cement the nuclear deal again. It is the eighth attempt since former US President Trump overturned the nuclear pact in 2018. Tehran is pushing for an end to the oil embargo, but also for a guarantee for the future.
With demands for the lifting of the oil sanctions, Iran has entered into new diplomatic talks to save the 2015 nuclear pact. “The minimum goal of this round of negotiations should be to normalize Iranian oil exports again and to grant access to the oil funds in foreign banks,” said Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian in Tehran. At the negotiations in Vienna there is renewed struggle to lift US sanctions and restrict the Iranian nuclear program.
Washington withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018 under President Donald Trump and used punitive measures against the Islamic Republic. The oil embargo and banking sanctions have robbed the country of its main source of income. In return, after a one-year waiting period, Tehran gradually exceeded the restrictions set by the nuclear agreement, which are intended to prevent the development of nuclear weapons.
The USA threatens new sanctions if it fails
Among other things, Iran is now enriching uranium up to 60 percent. This is already close to the degree of purity that would be required for nuclear warheads. Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammed Eslami has ruled out an enrichment to 90 percent weapons-grade even if the negotiations fail. However, the US has proposed further sanctions if no compromise can be found with Iran.
One of the points of contention that still need to be resolved in Vienna is the sequence of de-escalation steps in Washington and Tehran. Iran not only demands that the United States remove its punitive measures first, but also guarantees that the US will not get out of the pact.
In seven rounds of negotiations so far, Iran and the USA have not been able to reach an agreement despite attempts by Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and China to mediate. The relevant talks were interrupted after the election of hardliner Ebrahim Raisi as Iranian president. Negotiations have been ongoing since the end of November, albeit with moderate success so far. Now a new round began.
The negotiators of the European countries involved in the talks and the USA have so far criticized Tehran’s unwillingness to compromise. US representatives are only indirectly involved in the negotiations.