Russia’s demands for United States guarantees that new Ukraine-related sanctions would not affect Moscow’s rights under reworked, relaunched deal version of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, were dismissed as “irrelevant” on Sunday.
Moscow threw away the potential key in the works on Saturday, just month of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington in Vienna seemed to be heading for a deal, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussing Western sanctions over Ukraine had become a stumbling block for the nuclear deal.
american secretary of State Antony Blinken sought to dispel the remarks of such obstacles on on Sunday when he said the sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine had nothing to do with a possible nuclear deal with Iran.
“These things are totally different and just are not, in any way, interrelated. So I think it’s irrelevant,” Blinken said. in a meeting with CBS’s “Face the Nation” show. He added that a potential agreement with Iran was close, but warned that a couple of the remaining very difficult questions have not been resolved.
Yet a senior Iranian official told Reuters earlier that Tehran was waiting for clarification from Moscow on Lavrov’s comments, who says Russia wanted a written US guarantee that Russia tradeinvestment and military-cooperation technique with Iran would not be embarrassed in any way by penalties.
“It is necessary to clearly understand what Moscow wants. If what they demand is related to the JCPOA, it would not be difficult to find a solution for that,” the Iranian official said, referring to the 2015 nuclear deal, the plan global joint of Action.
“But it will be complicated if the guarantees demanded by Moscow exceed the JCPOA.”
British, French and German diplomats who Had stolen home ahead of Lavrov’s comments to inform officials on the nuclear talks did not indicate when they might return to Vienna.
Henry Rome, Iran analyst consultancy Eurasia group said reviving the nuclear pact without Russia was “difficult but probably doable, at least in the close term.”
“If Russia continues to obstruct the talks, I think the other parties and Iran will have no choice but to think creatively about how to get the deal done without Moscow’s involvement,” he said. Rome told Reuters.
On Sunday, Iranian negotiators met European diplomat Enrique Mora, who coordinates talks between Tehran and world powers.
The prisoner’s dilemma
Since the election of Iranian extremist President Ebrahim Raisi last year, senior officials pushed for deeper connections with Russia.
Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has publicly and privately called for closer ties with Russia because of its deep mistrust of United States.
The 2015 deal, between Iran and the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China, eased sanctions on Tehran in to return to for limit the enrichment of Iran of uranium, which makes it more difficult for Tehran to develop material for nuclear weapons. The deal fell apart after President Donald Trump withdrew from the United States in 2018.
The return of Iranian oil would be help replace lost Russian barrels as US and allies seek to freeze out Moscow, following the invasion and mitigate the impact on the West which is already struggling with high inflation.
US negotiator Robert Malley has suggested that securing the nuclear pact is little probable unless Tehran releases four American citizens, including an Iranian-American father and son Baquer and Siamak Namazi.
A senior Iranian official in Tehran said that if Tehran’s demands are met prisoners’ issue can be solved with or without raise of the nuclear deal.
Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, denies US accusations that prisoners must be taken to gain diplomatic leverage. In recent years, the elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals and foreigners, mainly on espionage and security costs.
Tehran demanded the release of over a dozen Iranians in the United States, including seven Iranian-Americans dual nationals, two Iranians with permanent residence in the United States and four Iranian citizens with no legal status in United States
