Triple American gesture towards Iran. After a virtual meeting of the heads of French, British, German and American diplomacy, Washington announced Thursday, February 18, accepting an invitation from the European Union (EU) to talks in the presence of Tehran to relaunch efforts to restore the nuclear agreement (JCPoA), signed in 2015.
A little earlier, the four Western powers had stated in a joint statement their objective of “See Iran return to full respect for its commitments” provided for in the 2015 agreement, in order to “Preserve the nuclear non-proliferation regime and ensure that Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon”. The press release is signed by Frenchman Jean-Yves Le Drian, German Heiko Maas, Briton Dominic Raab and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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Affirmation of return of sanctions against Iran quashed
Joe Biden’s administration in the process rescinded a unilateral proclamation made in September by Donald Trump’s administration on a return to international sanctions against Iran.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, obtained by Agence France-Presse, the acting American ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Mills, indicates that international sanctions “Lifted by resolution 2231” of the UN in 2015 and confirming the nuclear agreement concluded the same year with Tehran “Remain lifted”.
The September announcement by the Trump administration, which decided in 2018 to withdraw the United States from the agreement, was deemed null and void by a large majority of other members of the Security Council.
Restrictions on Iranian diplomats eased
The State Department finally announced Thursday the easing of restrictions on the travel of Iranian diplomats to the UN in New York.
These restrictions had been considerably increased by the Trump administration. They required these diplomats and the head of Iranian diplomacy to be confined to a few streets around the UN headquarters with a very specific route to and from Kennedy airport.
The easing of the restrictions will allow them to return to a previous situation allowing them to move freely in New York and its surrounding areas. This rule, which also applied to diplomatic missions of Cuba and North Korea, remains in force, said a State Department official.
“The idea is to take steps to remove unnecessary obstacles to multilateral diplomacy by amending restrictions on domestic travel which have been extremely restrictive.”, explained this manager.
Iran plans to restrict access for IAEA inspectors
The decisions came as the Iranian government plans to restrict IAEA inspectors’ access to non-nuclear facilities from Sunday, including military sites suspected of having nuclear activity.
Tehran has threatened to break free from new commitments made under the 2015 agreement unless the United States lifts its unilateral sanctions imposed since 2018 that are strangling the Iranian economy.
France, Germany, UK and US called on Tehran to assess “The consequences of such a serious measure, in particular in this moment of opportunity for a return to diplomacy”.
Antony Blinken “Recalled that, as President Biden had declared, if Iran returned to strict compliance with its commitments (…), the United States would do the same and that they were ready to start discussions with Iran in order to achieve it “, specifies their press release.
Certainly, “The agreement [de 2015] is less than ever implemented, but for the first time in more than two years, there is a political consensus of all the initial parties on the common political objective ”, and “The Americans say: it must start with a discussion”, we explained from a French diplomatic source.
“Find a mutually acceptable solution”
Since Joe Biden came to power, the United States and Iran have passed the buck on the question of who should take the first step towards each other to revive the JCPoA agreement. Washington is asking Tehran to come back fully to the agreement while Iran has demanded that the United States first lift its sanctions.
Since 2018, Tehran has gradually freed itself from the number of limits it had agreed to impose on its nuclear program. The American-European communiqué underlines in this regard a “Common concern” faced with the recent Iranian decision to produce 20% enriched uranium and metallic uranium, which constitutes a “Key stage in the development of a nuclear weapon”.
“Our measures are a response to American and European violations”Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif reacted Thursday evening. “We will respond to actions with actions”, he added.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi is due in Iran on Saturday for “Find a mutually acceptable solution”, according to the Vienna-based organization, which is concerned about “Serious impact” future limitations of its inspections.
