Russia Says Biden Must Lift Sanctions to Save Iran Nuclear Deal

By Jonathan Brown

Russia said Tuesday it was up to Washington to take the first steps if US President Joe Biden wants to salvage the landmark Iran nuclear deal.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Washington to lift sanctions on Tehran and save the historic agreement during his first talks with his Iranian counterpart since Biden's election victory raised hopes for the fate of the deal.

Lavrov said that Russia and Iran "share the same position" on the preservation of the 2015 accord, urging the United States to lift sanctions as a condition for Iran's return to compliance

"This in turn will provide the preconditions for the implementation of all requirements of the nuclear deal by the Islamic Republic of Iran," he told journalists.

The talks in Moscow came days after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the United States to make the "fundamental choice" to end its sanctions regime and reverse the "failed policies" of the previous White House administration, which took a hawkish position on Tehran.

He cautioned that any efforts by Washington to extract additional concessions would ultimately end in failure.

"Iran wants the nuclear deal it made," Zarif wrote in an op-ed in the US foreign policy magazine Foreign Affairs last week.

He reiterated Iran's position while in the Russian capital Tuesday, saying that if Washington cancels its penalties on Tehran, then Iran will not restrict the work of inspectors and return to its obligations under the accord.

"We will resume their complete implementation," Zarif said. The agreement was largely left in tatters after former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew and ordered officials to reimpose tough penalties against Tehran as part of his administration's "maximum pressure" policy. Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal was agreed between Iran, the United States, China, Russian, Britain, France and Germany in 2015.

'Businesslike and Pragmatic'

The deal offered sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear ambitions and guarantees it would not seek an atomic bomb. Iran maintains it has only pursued a civilian nuclear energy programme.

Immediately following the talks in Moscow, the French presidency on Tuesday said Iran must comply with the accord in order to see a US return, in direct contradiction to Russia's stance.

"If they are serious about negotiations and want to obtain a new commitmentfrom all participants in the JCPOA, first they must refrain from further provocations and second they must respect what they are no longer respecting" in terms of commitments, an official said on condition of anonymity.

Later Tuesday, Zarif tweeted: "It was the US that broke the deal—for no reason. It must remedy its wrong; then Iran will respond." A new wave of US sanctions has hit hard Iran's vital oil sector and its international banking ties, plunging the economy into a recession. Biden's pick for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said at a Senate confirmation hearing this month that Trump's policies had made Iran "more dangerous.”

While Blinken confirmed Biden's desire for Washington to return to the nuclear agreement, both the United States and Iran have said the other must return to full compliance before the accord is implemented again.

Since the US exit, Russia and European signatories had advocated efforts to save the accord and cautioned Iran against bolstering its nuclear enrichment. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov in December called on Iran to take "maximum responsibility" after Tehran announced plans to install advanced centrifuges in the country's main nuclear enrichment plant.

The ministry earlier this month blamed Iran's departure from the nuclear deal on "systematic crude violations" by the United States. Moscow appears cautiously optimistic over the fate of the deal under the new White House administration after its arms negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov described Washington's position as "businesslike and pragmatic.”

But time is running out for signatories to restore the nuclear deal and bring all parties back on track.

Legislation passed by Iran's parliament in December requires Tehran to boost uranium enrichment and limit UN inspections if sanctions are not removed by February.

Photo: IRNA

Moscow Sees 'Chance' to Save Iran Nuclear Deal

Russia still believes there is hope of rescuing the nuclear deal with Iran, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"We are convinced that there is still a chance to return the (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) into a stable situation," Russia's top diplomat said as he met with Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow.

"In any case, we will do everything to make it happen, just like our Iranian friends," he said.

Iran signed the agreement with the five UN Security Council members plus Germany in 2015, agreeing to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, but the deal has been on life support since US President Donald Trump withdrew from it and unilaterally reimposed sanctions in 2018.

Iran has since taken small but escalating steps away from compliance with the nuclear accord as it presses for renewed relief from sanctions.

Both ministers remarked that the deal "turned five years old" last week, with Zarif calling it a "historical international agreement."

After the two greeted each other with an elbow bump, Zarif thanked Russia for its "remarkable" efforts to keep the deal alive.

Iran's economy has been hard-hit by the US sanctions, which have scared off most international banks and firms from re-engaging with Tehran, and it has been further battered by the coronavirus epidemic.

Photo: Russian MFA

Iran Makes Big Diplomatic Push to Find Fix for Nuclear Staredown

By Abbas Al Lawati and Arsalan Shahla

Iran is ramping up negotiations as signs gather that it’s closer to ending a showdown with Europe over the wobbling 2015 nuclear deal and easing a security crisis in the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s top envoy Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks in Moscow with counterpart Sergei Lavrov as the threat of another erosion of Iran’s compliance with the accord looms. His deputy Abbas Araghchi went to Paris with a team of economists and central bank officials to discuss a French proposal to help restore Iran’s oil exports, the backbone of its economy.

The talks in Paris lasted 10 hours, state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported, without giving details. It was Araghchi’s second trip to the French capital in less than six weeks, continuing the most substantive negotiations between Iran and a Western power since U.S. President Donald Trump exited the nuclear accord last year and slapped a slew of crippling sanctions on Iranian oil and other sectors.

Talks related to the agreement also took place in Vienna, Zarif’s spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

According to an Iranian lawmaker, the French proposal—hammered out in hours of telephone negotiations between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and French President Emmanuel Macron, and at a recent meeting with Zarif—includes a $15 billion credit line to Iran for oil “pre-purchases,” the semi-official Tasnim news reported, citing an interview with conservative lawmaker Ali Motahari.

France has suggested the money be paid in three installments and in return, Iran would lift its threat to ramp up atomic activities on Sept. 6 and eventually revert back to full compliance with the accord, Motahari said.

“Iran’s and France’s points of view have grown closer,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters at a news conference in Tehran, adding that Iran was “moving forward and advancing” in its efforts to resolve the crisis through talks.

Araghchi said Saturday that discussions between Trump and Macron at the Group of Seven summit last week “have shown flexibility with regard to Iran’s oil,” according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency. Trump said at the meeting in Biarritz that he’d agree to have other countries extend a letter of credit to Iran, secured against oil sales.

The U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May 2018 and crippling sanctioning of Iran’s economy triggered a security crisis that has rocked the Persian Gulf region with tanker attacks, tit-for-tat vessel seizures and the downing of military drones.

Washington’s actions also left Europe scrambling for an effective way to keep the deal alive without running afoul of U.S. sanctions.

“The French initiative is the last best hope for salvaging” the deal, said Ali Vaez at the International Crisis Group. “The key for its success is to provide Iran with some economic reprieve in the form of increased oil exports in return for compliance with the JCPOA and commitment to engage in new negotiations.”

Photo: IRNA

Moscow, Iran Urge Europe to 'Fulfil Obligations' Under Nuclear Deal

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday called on European signatories to abide by the Iran nuclear deal, following a meeting in Moscow. 

Zarif's visit came as Tehran said it had stopped respecting limits on its nuclear activities agreed under the deal until other signatories find a way to bypass renewed US sanctions.

Lavrov said during a joint press conference that the 2015 agreement had been "fragile" since US President Donald Trump announced Washington would pull out a year ago.

European signatories of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), were trying to "divert attention" from their inability to implement points of the agreement, Lavrov said. 

 "We will call on them, as we have done before, to concentrate on implementing everything that is enshrined in the JCPOA and approved by the UN Security Council."

Lavrov said European mechanisms to allow banking transactions with Iran despite US sanctions were inefficient. 

"For Iran, it is important that this mechanism allows for the export of Iranian oil. We support the Iranians. This is a legal requirement and part of the JCPOA."

Zarif meanwhile said "our friends in Russia and China maintained very good relations with us in this year," since the US withdrawal.

"But the rest of the JCPOA participants did not meet any of their obligations," he said, referring to Britain, France and Germany.

“Yes, they issued good statements, but in practice nothing happened."

Lavrov also criticized Washington for sending aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf, "suggesting a willingness to use force.”

Washington reimposed sanctions after it quit the agreement one year ago, dealing a severe blow to the Iranian economy.

Photo: IRNA

Russia's Lavrov to Hold Talks with Iran's Zarif

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian foreign ministry said Tuesday.

The two diplomats, longtime allies on a number of issues including the Syrian conflict, will discuss "key issues of the international and regional agenda" as well as bilateral cooperation, the ministry said in a statement.

"Cooperation with Iran is an important condition of ensuring our country's national interests" and stability in the South Caucasus and the Middle East, it said.

Moscow has backed Iran since helping orchestrate the multi-country nuclear deal in 2015 under which Tehran agreed to halt its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.

While Washington has pulled out from the nuclear deal, Russia argues that Tehran "remains a responsible participant", the ministry said.

The United States on Monday warned it would deploy an aircraft carrier strike group to the vicinity of Iran in response to "indications of a credible threat by Iranian regime forces."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Zarif would not be meeting President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

Photo: IRNA