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How will Iran's president-elect Raeisi reshape future of nuclear talks?

Yusef Jalali
press TV, Tehran

Iran and the remaining signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal are holding talks in Vienna as part of their effort to revive the agreement. This as the new Iranian government is believed to take a different approach with regards to the multilateral agreement.

In less than two months, Iran's president elect Ebrahim Raeisi will take over power, and speculations over the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal is now the talk of the town.

While there are still major sticking points in the Vienna talks over the revival of the accord, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the discussions are likely to reach a conclusion before the end of President Hassan Rouhani’s term in office in mid-August.

In his weekly briefing, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said the US is slowing down the process.

Reports coming out of Vienna suggest that the excessive demands of the US and European parties to the deal are to blame for the sluggish talks. The US wants the destruction of Iran’s new-generation centrifuges in exchange for only a temporary suspension of some of the anti-Iran sanctions, a demand beyond Iran’s commitments under the JCPOA.

In his first presser as president-elect, Raeisi made it clear that the US must lift all its sanctions before Tehran returns to its full compliance to the atomic accord.
He said he will not allow the talks to become erosive.

Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the nuclear deal has been in limbo for three years, since the former US administration discarded the accord in 2018 and reinstated sanctions on Iran.
In a tit for tat, Tehran adopted a step-wise suspension of its own nuclear commitments.

The last remedial step involved ramping up the purity level of enriched Uranium to 60 percent, way above the 3.67 percent cap set by the deal.

The Iranian foreign ministry hopes the Vienna talks will conclude before Rouhani's term is over. Observers say this scenario is the best for the US, and any foot-dragging means the process will have to continue with the new Iranian government, which maintains a tougher tone toward the west.


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