Page 10 - MEOG Week 17 2021

MEOG POLICY MEOG

US gives Iran examples

of sanctions categories

IRAN THE US has provided Iran with examples of that it gets little benefit from the pact when the
three categories of existing sanctions in the indi- European signatories do nothing meaningful to
rect talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 protect Iran’s economy from the swingeing sanc-
nuclear deal, The Washington Post reported on tions brought in by former US president Donald
April 22. Trump from 2018.
They were specified as those the Biden Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out
administration would need to lift on Tehran to of the JCPOA in May of that year and imposed
return to compliance with the nuclear deal (also sanctions that, for example, essentially freeze
known as the JCPOA), those it is not prepared to Iran out of the international economic system.
lift and “difficult cases”. One of his arguments for doing so was that the
The newspaper said it obtained the categories deal is not tight enough to stop Iran moving its
communicated to Iran via third party negotia- civilian nuclear development programme into
tors—who have been shuttling between the US the military sphere. Tehran, however, has always
and Iranian delegations in the Austrian capital claimed it has never pursued the building of a
during two rounds of talks, the second round of nuclear weapon.
which ended earlier this week—from a US State A key difficulty in sorting out the “third cat-
Department official. egory” of “difficult cases” on the list of existing
Negotiations were now reportedly focused on sanctions, the State Department official was
reaching agreement on a full list of actions each further quoted as saying, was that “the Trump
side is prepared to take to comply with the terms administration deliberately and avowedly
of the JCPOA. imposed sanctions involving the terrorist label
“The parties are not going to agree to any- . . . even though they were done purely for the
thing until they see the full picture,” the senior purpose of preventing or hindering” the US
official, speaking on the condition of anonym- return to compliance with the nuclear deal.
ity under rules set by the State Department, was The Wall Street Journal reported on April 21
cited as saying. “Nothing will be agreed until that the Biden administration has indicated that
everything is agreed,” they added. it is open to easing sanctions on Iran’s economy,
US and European officials have let it be including oil and finance.
known that progress has been made in the talks, Israel, meanwhile, remains fiercely opposed
though there are no substantive breakthroughs. to any revival of the JCPOA. Tel Aviv will turn
“There are so many things that need to be up the heat on the US to stay out of the nuclear
resolved. I think at this very interim beginning deal next week when officials, including Israel’s
step it is: What can we put on the table to show national security adviser, chief of staff of the
good faith and confidence building?” the Post army, head of military intelligence and director
reported a Western diplomat, who also asked to of the Mossad spy agency go to Washington.
remain unnamed, as saying. “A diplomatic deal with Iran is increasingly
The talks are expected to resume in Vienna likely. Running in parallel, a diplomatic row with
next week. Participants include Britain, France, Israel is taking shape. Whether the Middle East
Germany, Russia, China and the European will be more stable is a matter of debate,” Simon
Union. They remain signatories to the nuclear Henderson, the Baker Fellow and director of the
agreement, as does Iran, although Tehran has Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy
in the past year been gradually breaching the at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
deal to a greater and greater degree, arguing wrote in The Hill on April 22.™

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