It is a call of the foot that could open up peaceful prospects on a hot issue. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif asked, Monday 1er February, up to the European Union (EU) to mediate between Iran and the United States to save the Iran nuclear deal.
“There can clearly be a mechanism to either synchronize” the return of the two countries in the nails of the agreement, “Or coordinate what can be done”Mr. Javad Zarif said on CNN International television. According to him, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, can “Put on your hat as coordinator of the joint commission” monitoring the 2015 agreement “And choreograph the actions that must be taken by the United States and those that must be taken by Iran”.
The Vienna agreement, signed by Tehran with the great powers (United States, China, Russia, Germany, France, United Kingdom) as well as the EU, aimed to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring the atomic bomb, with strict limits to its nuclear program supposed to remain exclusively civilian and peaceful. The international community had in return lifted all its economic sanctions against Iran.
Americans must first “demonstrate their good faith”
In 2018, Donald Trump, then President of the United States, withdrew Washington from the agreement and reinstated and then tightened American sanctions; he considered it insufficient on the nuclear front and deplored that it did not attack the Iranian ballistic missile program and other activities “Destabilizing” from Iran to the Middle East. The Europeans have always denounced the decision of the Republican billionaire and have done everything for three years to try to save the agreement.
“The EU is trying to find the means for the United States to come back to the agreement and for Iran to fully respect its commitments again”, said a spokesperson for the European Commission on Monday, before the Iranian minister made his proposal.
The new American president, Joe Biden, has promised to join this text again, but on condition that Tehran first comes back to the nails of its nuclear restrictions, from which it has begun to free itself in response to the sanctions of the United States.
However, Iranian diplomacy has so far demanded that the Biden administration take the first step, by lifting sanctions first. Mr. Javad Zarif’s proposal seems to open the door for the first time to a process “Synchronized”, although he reaffirmed that the Americans, who left the agreement, must first “Demonstrate their good faith”.
“Timing is not the problem”
These statements come as the climate became tense on January 4 when Tehran announced the resumption of its 20% uranium enrichment process. A decision that was part of a series of deviations from its commitments, initiated in May 2019, a year after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the agreement.
In an interview with the American channel NBC broadcast on Monday, the new American secretary of state, Antony Blinken, estimated that it should ” some time “ so that Iran gets back into the nails, then again ” some time “ so that the United States “Assess [si l’Iran a] well kept [ses] commitments ”.
“Timing is not the problem”, replied his Iranian counterpart. According to him, certain limits can be respected again “In less than a day”, “Others may take a few days or weeks, but it will not take longer than it takes the United States to implement necessary presidential decrees” to lift the sanctions.
