The head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said on Wednesday that negotiations to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers will fail unless US President Joe Biden can guarantee that Washington will not abandon the pact again.
In a message shared on Twitter, Shamkhani said: “The US President, lacking authority, is not ready to give guarantees. If the current status quo continues, the result of negotiations is clear.”
According to Iranian top nuclear negotiator in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Ali Bagheri-Kani, an exact date is expected to be given this week for the resumption of talks between the parties to the JCPOA, scheduled for the end of November.
Talks between Iran and the six powers that are part of the JCPOA started talks in Vienna to reinstate the deal, which was abandoned by then-US President Donald Trump three years ago, after which the US reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. However, after Iran’s presidential election in June that brought anti-Western hard-liner Ebrahim Raisi to power, the talks were put on hold once again.
The main disagreement in Vienna has been over Iran’s requirement for the United States to give guarantees that it would not withdraw from the nuclear agreement in the future.
Warning that time is running out as Iran’s uranium enrichment program is progressing well beyond the limits set by the JCPOA, the United States and European powers have urged Tehran to return to the negotiation table.
