This Dec 3, 2021 photo shows a meeting of the Joint Commission on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria. (EU DELEGATION IN VIENNA/HANDOUT VIA XINHUA)
As parties to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran attempt – for the seventh time – to resuscitate the agreement, which the United States abandoned in 2018, experts said it is the US which should take the first step to show its sincerity in rejoining the pact.
They also said any idea to bring in additional negotiators, other than the signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the deal is called, would not have much positive impact and could instead run the risk of escalating tensions.
“Iran and the P5+1 have already signed the JCPOA since 2015, and the deal is still on the table. The US is the one which left the agreement and did not fulfill its obligations under the JCPOA. The US even (imposed) sanctions on Iran,” Dina Yulianti Sulaeman, director of the Indonesia Center for Middle East Studies, told China Daily.
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In 2015, Iran entered into a deal with the five permanent members of United Nations Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US – plus Germany, known as the “P5+1”. But former US president Donald Trump left the deal as he thought it was too soft on Tehran and imposed sanctions on Iran.
The parties, except the US, returned to Vienna for talks on Nov 29, following the Iranian elections in June.
The talks were adjourned on Dec 3 after Western diplomats sought consultations with their capitals and accused Iran of backtracking on the progress made in the negotiations.
Iran and the P5+1 have already signed the JCPOA since 2015, and the deal is still on the table. The US is the one which left the agreement and did not fulfill its obligations under the JCPOA. The US even (imposed) sanctions on Iran.
Dina Yulianti Sulaeman, director of the Indonesia Center for Middle East Studies
“The JCPOA is the result of long negotiations. It is already the best option in the parties' view, so it should not be undermined by adding participants who have been confirmed to only make the crisis protracted,” said Sulaeman, who is also a lecturer in International Relations at Padjadjaran University in Indonesia.
Arhama Siddiqa, a Middle East expert and research fellow at the Pakistan-based Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad said the US should take the first step in order to show some goodwill as it was the one which left the deal. She also said the US must hold itself accountable for unilaterally withdrawing from the JCPOA.
“The US already has a bad track record when it comes to maintaining negotiations. Thus, Iran needs a concrete guarantee that the US will not back out now, as it wills, (and) as it chooses to (should it rejoin the deal),” Siddiqa told China Daily.
Asif Shuja, an Iran expert and senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute at National University of Singapore, said whoever shows a good gesture first is not an issue. He said that if a deal is agreed, Iran could possibly take the first step.
He also said that as far as the broader dynamics of the Iranian nuclear negotiations are concerned, the addition of regional stakeholders should not make much of a difference. The discussions, he said, are as much about regional and global geopolitics as it is about the JCPOA.
At a news conference on Dec 6, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said all parties to the JCPOA should stick to the political direction of the dialogue and negotiation and stop finger-pointing as pressuring one another will lead nowhere.
He urged the US to lift all illegal and unilateral sanctions against Iran, China and other third parties.
In November last year and January this year, the US announced economic sanctions on Chinese, Russian and German construction and steel firms over trade with Iran.
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Zhao also said the key is to focus on pending issues, adopt a flexible and open attitude, show political wisdom, seek practical and feasible solutions, and strive to reach an agreement on resuming compliance with the JCPOA at an “early date”.
The AFP new agency reported that French President Emmanuel Macron said a broader framework might benefit the talks in bringing Washington back into the deal and that it was difficult to reach an agreement if the Gulf states and Israel, both whose security are directly affected, are not involved.
In a televised address on Dec 5, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated that his government was “vigorously working on the issue of removal of anti-Iran sanctions”. He further emphasized that two things have been at the center of efforts since the beginning of his government, and these include the lifting of sanctions.
Sulaeman from ICMES said that Raisi wants to convey to the Iranian public that his administration's stance in the nuclear negotiations is to eliminate sanctions.
“He had to emphasize this because the biggest hope of the Iranian people is the elimination of various sanctions so that the economic burden can be removed,” said Sulaeman.
Siddiqa of ISSI noted that the sanctions have hurt Iran predominantly in the health sector, as the country suffered one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the Middle East.
“As it stands now, and with the United Nations saying there has been an overcompliance with sanctions, there is a sense of urgency in putting the suffering of the Iranian people to an end,” Siddiqa said.
In October, the UN Human Rights Council released a statement saying an “overcompliance” with the US-imposed sanctions against Iran is harming the country’s right to health and that people, many of them children, with a rare skin disease are among those affected.
Sulaeman said Iran had remained in compliance with all the conditions in the JCPOA and when the situation did not improve, it increased its uranium enrichment.
“Iran's (uranium enrichment) is not a violation of the JCPOA because an article in the JCPOA states that if one party complains about the other's nonperformance, it has the right to stop carrying out its commitments.
“So seeing this condition, common sense will say that the party who left the deal should be the one who returns. The US should come back to the JCPOA and stop thwarting the negotiation,” Sulaeman said.
Xinhua contributed to this story.
