Page 9 - MEOG Week 43 2021

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Efforts to revive nuclear deal

with Iran at critical phase

IRAN EFFORTS to revive the 2015 nuclear deal – it is meant to comply with verifiable limits that
between major powers and Iran were at a “criti- guarantee its nuclear development programme
cal phase” with Tehran’s reasons for avoiding the is kept entirely civilian. In return, Tehran is
resumption of the Vienna talks wearing thin, US supposed to be shielded from major economic
Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said on sanctions.
October 25. The window for returning to the JCPOA
Malley was reported by news agencies as tell- could not stay open forever because eventu-
ing reporters that Washington was increasingly ally Iran’s nuclear advances would overtake it,
worried that Tehran – under a new hardline observed Malley.
presidency since August – would keep postpon- “You can’t revive a dead corpse,” he said,
ing a return to the talks. However, he said the US stressing that the United States had not reached
had other tools to keep Iran from developing a that point yet. “We will continue to pursue
nuclear weapon and would use them if it proved diplomacy, even as we pursue other steps if we
necessary. face a world in which we need to do that.” Mal-
“We’re in a critical phase of the efforts to see ley declined to describe those other steps. The
whether we can revive the JCPOA,” Malley was phrase “other options” may hint at military
reported as saying by Reuters, referring to the action, however remote the possibility of that is
nuclear deal’s formal title, the Joint Comprehen- right now.
sive Plan of Action. “We’ve had a hiatus of many Iran has said for more than a month that it
months and the official reasons given by Iran for would “soon” return to indirect talks in Vienna
why we’re in this hiatus are wearing very thin.” with the US on restoring mutual compliance
The window for both the US and Iran to with the accord, but it has yet to set a date.
resume compliance with the nuclear agreement Iran’s nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani,
would eventually close, Malley said, though, plans to meet on October 27 in Brussels with the
he added, Washington would still be willing to EU’s Enrique Mora. He coordinates talks among
engage in diplomacy with Iran even as it exam- Iran and other parties to the deal: Britain, China,
ined other options to ensure Tehran does not get France, Germany, Russia and the US.
the bomb. Iran has, meanwhile, announced it is expand-
Iran has always said that it has no ambition to ing its enrichment of uranium beyond the highly
build a nuclear weapon, but under the JCPOA enriched threshold of 20% purity at a Natanz
– which was essentially scuppered when former plant where it is already enriching to 60%. But
US president Donald Trump unilaterally with- the new activity does not involve keeping the
drew the US from it in May 2018 even though product, the UN nuclear watchdog said. Nuclear
Iran was in full compliance with the accord weapon-grade uranium is enriched to 90%.™

Week 43 27•October•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9