Iran has signaled its willingness to resume nuclear talks. “We have received important messages in the last few days (…) There is indeed a possibility for new negotiations soon,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in Tehran on Monday. Iran definitely wants an end to the nuclear dispute and a comprehensive agreement. The spokesman did not say when and where the new negotiations will take place. Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri also tweeted: “We are ready to bring the negotiations to a conclusion in the short term.”
At the same time, Iran again claimed that the country could already build a nuclear bomb, but did not want to. “As mentioned several times, Iran is technically capable of building a nuclear bomb, but this is not on the agenda,” said Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed Eslami on Monday. He accused Israel of insinuating Iran’s intentions in order to disrupt the nuclear negotiations. Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened their arch-enemy Israel with attacks, but have rejected plans to build a nuclear bomb.
Negotiations on a revival of the 2015 agreement between Iran and the six contracting parties – China, Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and the USA – have been stalled since March. Points of contention include the lifting of US sanctions against Iran and the status of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). In the United States, the Revolutionary Guards, which are considered Iran’s national armed forces, have been on a list of terrorist organizations for years.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is calling for the lifting of all sanctions imposed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018 after the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018. Tehran has repeatedly emphasized that unless the sanctions are lifted, the Vienna nuclear deal is worthless to the country.
If the negotiations fail, Iran is also considering reconsidering cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Iranian nuclear organization has already sealed the IAEA surveillance cameras in the country and will only release them once an agreement has been reached in the nuclear dispute. In addition, the country has increased the enrichment level of its uranium from the 3.6 percent allowed under the nuclear deal to 60 percent. Tehran states that 90 percent is also possible. This would then technically make it possible to build an atomic bomb. According to President Joe Biden, the US wants to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
