TEHRAN, Oct 24 (NNN-IRNA) – The best option to save the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), from collapse is, all the parties to the deal fully comply with the original text of the JCPOA, said Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat and a specialist on Middle East security and nuclear policy, at Princeton University.
The remarks are from a recent article written by Mousavian and released by the Middle East Eye, a London-based news portal, focusing on Middle East events, just ahead of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Grossi’s visit to Iran, to discuss the continuation of a deal between the two sides that allows the IAEA’s inspectors to monitor activities at Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Iran has already agreed to keep the surveillance of IAEA cameras and return to the negotiations in Austria’s capital, Vienna, after it suspended them temporarily in June, to allow its new administration to review what had previously been discussed.
Under the 2015 accord, Iran promised to limit parts of its nuclear programme, such as placing caps on the capacity and stockpile of the uranium enrichment for a specific period of time, and to allow the IAEA to monitor and verify its compliance with the deal, in return for lifting of the UN and U.S. sanctions on the country.
However, the U.S. government, under former President Donald Trump, withdrew from the agreement in May, 2018, and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran. In response, Iran gradually stopped implementing part of its commitments to the deal in May, 2019.
Between Apr 6 and June 20 this year, the JCPOA Joint Commission, attended by a U.S. delegation indirectly, held six offline talks in Vienna, to discuss a possible return of the U.S. to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the deal.
“Iran neither wastes time, nor accepts unconstructive behaviour of the U.S. and will not hold back with empty promises,” Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian said recently.
To enhance mutual trust, the world powers and Iran can agree on a step-by-step mechanism, according to Mousavian, who had served in Iran’s nuclear diplomacy team.
For instance, as a first step, Iran would halt enriching uranium at 60 percent and the world powers would lift sanctions on the Iranian finance and banking sectors, before a second step would see Iran stop enrichment at 20 percent, in return for sanctions relief on its oil.
Iranian officials have been insisting on a JCPOA, where nothing would be added to or removed from the original accord.
Mousavian, however, put forward an alternative scenario, in which it could begin with “JCPOA minus” and end with “JCPOA plus.”
Under the possible “JCPOA minus,” with a guarantee of maintaining a “non-nuclear-weapon state,” he said, Iran remains committed to all transparency measures, while in exchange, some specific sanctions relief in critical sectors of banking and oil sectors would be given, so that other countries could work with Iran on these projects without fear of U.S. retaliation.
To move from “JCPOA minus” to “JCPOA plus,” both Iran and the world powers would need to agree on a venue to negotiate regional issues, in which the regional states would sit with Iran and agree on diverse issues, Mousavian added.
“JCPOA plus,” which has been a demand of western states in Vienna negotiations, aims at curbing Iran’s influence in the region and slow down the country’s developing missile programme. The Islamic republic has dismissed the calls.– NNN-IRNA
