Iran Says Ready To Resume Nuclear Talks On The Basis Of Its Own Proposals, Rejects “Blame Game”

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TEHRAN – Iran said on Monday it was ready to resume nuclear talks on the basis of the draft proposals it submitted last week, accusing Western powers of blocking negotiations in Vienna.

Last week, the Islamic Republic resumed international talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal after a five-month hiatus.

On Wednesday, he submitted two draft resolutions on lifting US sanctions and nuclear-related measures.

But over the weekend, the United States, along with European participants in the Vienna talks, accused Iran of backtracking.

A senior US administration official said the proposals “amount to all the compromises Iran has offered” in the previous six rounds of negotiations.

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The official accused Iran of seeking to “pocket all the compromises that others – the United States in particular – had made and then ask for more.”

Coburg Palace, the site of Iranian nuclear talks, is pictured in Vienna on November 29, 2021 (Vladimir Simicek / AFP)

Even Russia, which has a stronger relationship with Iran, questioned Iran’s commitment to the process. Israel, an outside observer with an interest in the outcome of the talks, stepped up its rhetoric.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh fired back on Monday.

“Our texts are fully negotiable,” he said at a press conference on the draft proposals, also accusing the other parties “of wanting to play a blame game.”

“We are naturally waiting to hear the opinion of the other party regarding these texts and if they have a real (counter) offer to make to us in writing,” Khatibzadeh added.

The seventh round of nuclear talks ended on Friday after five days in Vienna, with delegations returning to their national capitals and due to return to Austria next week.

Khatibzadeh said negotiations are expected to resume “at the end of the week,” without giving further details.

In this image taken from April 17, 2021, video broadcast by the State Television of the Islamic Republic of Iran, IRIB, various centrifuges line the hall damaged on April 11, 2021, at the uranium enrichment facility from Natanz, some 200 miles (322 km) south of the capital Tehran. (IRIB via AP, file)

The landmark 2015 nuclear deal was originally struck between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States.

The deal aims to put the brakes on Iran’s nuclear program to ensure it could not develop an atomic weapon, in return for sanctions relief for Tehran.

But that started to crumble in 2018 when then-US President Donald Trump, with strong encouragement from then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, withdrew and reimposed the sanctions, while Iran began to publicly break the deal. Since then, Iran has stepped up its nuclear activities – building up a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that goes well beyond the limits of the agreement.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Mossad chief David Barnea will push, during their meetings this week in Washington with senior officials in the Biden administration, for the United States to carry out a military strike on Iranian targets, Israel’s three major news broadcasts reported on Sunday.

According to the reports, which do not cite any sources, Gantz and Barnea will urge their American interlocutors to develop a “plan B” vis-à-vis Iran, seeing the nuclear negotiations blocked in Vienna as an opportunity to push the United States. to make a decision. more aggressive stance towards the Islamic Republic.

In addition to calling for tougher sanctions, the Israelis would call on the United States to take military action against Iran.

Channel 12 News said the target of a potential US attack would not be a nuclear facility in Iran, but rather a site such as an Iranian base in Yemen. The aim of such a strike would be to convince the Iranians to relax their positions at the negotiating table.

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