Page 5 - IRANRptOct21

Meanwhile, Iran cements ties with East as it becomes full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on September 17. Referring to sanctions in his summit speech as a form of “economic terrorism”, Ebrahim Raisi said Iran wanted closer ties with its regional neighbours and rejected Washington’s “unilateralism”.
On the political front, Iran on September 28 rejected a US call to grant UN inspectors access to a nuclear site. Washington, said Tehran, was not qualified to demand inspections given that it had not condemned a sabotage attack on the facility, Iranian state media reported. The US said Iran must grant access as agreed or face diplomatic retaliation at a meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA)’s 35-nation board of governors.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi tore into the US for its treatment of Iran in his first UN speech late on September 21. He castigated the Americans for their sanctions on Tehran, overseas military interventions and the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol building in Washington. Iran has previously protested that US sanctions hindered its ability to source vaccines.
Iran on September 21 said it planned to return to the stalled Vienna talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, or JCPOA, within a few weeks. Tehran wants some protection from any future US walkout from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), should it be relaunched. It is seeking guarantees that the US would, if in breach of UN security council resolutions, pay compensation.
US President Joe Biden also delivered his first UN speech as president earlier on September 22. He emphasised that his administration is entirely willing to rejoin and fully comply with the JCPOA if Tehran agreed to stick to its terms in return for verifiable compliance with measures aimed at keeping its nuclear development programme entirely civilian in nature.
The sixth round of indirect talks in Vienna came to a halt prior to the June presidential election in Iran, which saw hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi voted in to succeed moderate politician Hassan Rouhani as president. Raisi has said his administration is committed to proceeding with the attempt at re-establishing the JCPOA.
Looking ahead, the Institute of International Finance (IFF) forecast that should the signatories to the original JCPOA manage to agree a comprehensive new nuclear agreement that moves beyond the 2015 terms, Iran would see GDP expand by 4.3% this year and by 5.9% and 5.8% in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
If Tehran and the major powers fail to strike any agreement to revive the JCPOA, unemployment in Iran would likely remain in double digits and there would be subdued economic growth of 1.8% this year, the IIF estimated.
5 IRAN Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com