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WORLD NEWS Monday 28 March 2022

EU envoy in Tehran amid hopes to restore nuclear agreement

(AP) — A leading Euro- But officials have since Remarks on Sunday by
pean Union diplomat held made encouraging noises. the U.S. special envoy for
talks in Tehran on Sunday, Russia appeared to back Iran, Robert Malley, under-
Iran’s state-run media re- down from its earlier de- scored the U.S. limitations
ported, amid hopes that mand that its trade with that have frustrated allies.
an agreement to restore Iran be exempted from He declined to discuss de-
Iran’s tattered nuclear deal Western sanctions. tails of the nuclear nego-
with world powers could be And for the first time, Iran’s tiations, but reiterated that
completed. top diplomat on Saturday America had failed to se-
The meetings between the publicly signaled flexibil- cure a broader deal with
EU’s envoy, Enrique Mora, ity over Tehran’s demand Iran that would restrict its
and top Iranian officials that Washington stop des- ballistic missiles program
come at a sensitive mo- ignating the country’s Is- and curb its regional mili-
ment for talks to revive the lamic Revolutionary Guard, tary policies.
deal, as the glimmers of a its powerful paramilitary “It would have been bet-
resolution to some of the force, as a foreign terrorist ter, but (the nuclear deal)
thorniest issues in the nego- organization. was not intended to, it
tiations have emerged. The prospect of the des- wasn’t able to address the stay in place so that Iran foreign policy advisor to
The report on the talks in ignation’s removal had other issues,” Malley told could pursue “whatever is Iran’s supreme leader, also
Tehran gave scant detail, alarmed America’s Mid- the Doha Forum, a Middle necessary for the interests struck a tough line, reject-
saying only that the diplo- east allies, such as Israel, East policy conference in of the country.” ing the United States’ con-
mats discussed the latest which fiercely opposed the Qatar. “Many in the region tinued sanctions on the
on the nuclear agreement, original nuclear deal and view the IRGC in the same Hossein Shariatmadari, ap- Revolutionary Guard.
with Iran’s top nuclear ne- argued that easing sanc- way we do. ... But we know pointed by Supreme Lead- “A national army can-
gotiator Ali Bagheri Kani re- tions on the Revolutionary this is not a deal that’s go- er Ayatollah Ali Khamenei not be listed as a terrorist
peating that Iran believed Guard would embolden ing to address that.” as editor-in-chief of hard- group,” Kharrazi told the
a deal was within reach if Iranian-backed militant However, Malley was line Kayhan daily, rebuked audience. “That is very im-
America was “realistic” in groups from Hezbollah in quick to stress that no mat- Amirabdollahian’s remarks portant for Iranians to have
its demands. After meeting Lebanon to the Houthis in ter what happens to the as “unexpected and the IRGC removed from the
Mora, Foreign Minister Hos- Yemen. Guard’s terrorism designa- strange.” list. ... They are not going to
sein Amirabdollahian also In a visible sign that shared tion, separate sanctions In an interview late Satur- compromise on that.”
cast blame on the U.S. for regional anxiety over a re- over its ballistic missile de- day with the semiofficial In an Instagram post, Ami-
the delay in reaching an newed nuclear deal was velopment and alleged hu- Fars news agency, Shari- rabdollahian expressed re-
agreement. growing, the Israeli gov- man rights violations would atmadari insisted that the gret that his comments had
Former President Don- ernment hastily arranged remain. foreign minister had misun- been “misinterpreted” and
ald Trump abandoned an unprecedented sum- Anxieties over a restored derstood the Revolutionary tried to assuage domes-
the nuclear deal in 2018 mit of top diplomats from deal also were on stark dis- Guard when he spoke on tic unease by promising
and re-imposed crushing Arab countries that have play in Tehran, laying bare the force’s behalf. he had not backed down
sanctions. Iran gradually normalized ties with Israel deep fissures in Iran’s divid- “Attributing this statement from any Iranian “red lines.”
breached the agreement along with U.S. Secretary of ed political system. to Guard commanders Still, ambiguity prevailed as
with a massive expansion State Antony Blinken. Hard-liners opposing any does not correspond to Malley and Kharrazi offered
of its nuclear work. “We are both committed, hint of rapprochement any of the well-known char- starkly different assess-
Nuclear talks broke off ear- both determined that Iran with the West appeared to acteristics of Guard com- ments from Doha about
lier this month as last-minute will never acquire a nucle- fret about possible Iranian manders,” he said, adding the chances of the deal’s
wrangles in Vienna coincid- ar weapon,” Blinken said compromises after Amirab- that Amirabdollahian had looming revival.
ed with Russia’s invasion of alongside Israel’s foreign dollahian told state TV that falsely given the impression “It’s imminent,” said
Ukraine and financial sanc- minister, seeking to reas- the Revolutionary Guard of the Guard’s “surrender.” Kharrazi.
tions imposed by the West sure his jittery counterparts had accepted that the From the Doha Forum, Malley appeared more
on Moscow. before the gathering. terrorist designation would Sayyid Kamal Kharrazi, a skeptical.q