{"id":261856,"date":"2022-07-30T16:29:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-30T14:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=261856"},"modified":"2023-02-06T07:50:05","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T06:50:05","slug":"would-borrells-new-draft-save-jcpoa-or-buys-more-time-for-irans-regime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/nuclear\/would-borrells-new-draft-save-jcpoa-or-buys-more-time-for-irans-regime\/","title":{"rendered":"Would Borrell\u2019s New Draft Save JCPOA, or Buys More Time for Iran\u2019s Regime?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iran-bagheri-kani-enrique-mora-e1659170258643\"<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, July 26, the European Union\u2019s foreign policy chief announced that he had introduced a new draft text for the re-implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. An earlier draft had apparently been on the table in Vienna when negotiations among signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action were suspended in March and remained on the table when those negotiations briefly resumed in Doha earlier this month. At both negotiations and in a number of intervening statements, the Iranian regime rejected that draft while demanding additional concessions, primarily from the United States.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear what new concessions had been included in the new draft, but they were presented to Tehran and the international community as the last available compromise on outstanding issues. \u201cI have now put on the table a text that addresses, in precise detail, the sanctions lifting as well as the nuclear steps needed to restore the JCPOA,\u201d Josep Borrell said in an essay published<\/a> by the Financial Times. He added: \u201cAfter 15 months of intense, constructive negotiations in Vienna and countless interactions with the JCPOA participants and the US, I have concluded that the space for additional significant compromises has been exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the implication that Tehran cannot hope to squeeze any further concessions out of its negotiating partners, Iran\u2019s lead nuclear negotiator appeared to immediately reject the new draft. \u201cWe, too, have our own ideas, both in substance and form, to conclude the negotiations which would be shared,\u201d Ali Bagheri Kani wrote on Twitter<\/a> after confirming the existence of a new draft, but without clarifying whether his negotiating team had actually reviewed it in detail.<\/p>\n

The apparently reflexive dismissal of Borrell\u2019s proposal is further evidence that the Iranian regime has no intention of reviving the JCPOA. This conclusion was presented last week by a number of international media outlets, citing comments from British intelligence chief Richard Moore. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, he pointed to the existence of a draft agreement and the absence of blocking measures by Iran\u2019s allies Russia and China, in order to suggest that the nuclear deal would have been revived by now if Tehran were committed to it.<\/p>\n

Moore went on to say that the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had likely settled upon an alternative strategy for dealing with international pressure on Iran\u2019s nuclear program, though he recognized other Iranian authorities as being hesitant to walk away from it. These dual trends allow Tehran to play for time and keep the negotiations on life support to prevent the automatic re-implementation and potential expansion of European Union sanctions and United Nations Security Council resolutions.<\/p>\n

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The UN Security Council must apply Chapter 7 of the UN Charter to the mullahs' regime in #Iran<\/a>. #FreeIran2021<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/98XIabInwg<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/zDoiPp74i9<\/a><\/p>\n

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) July 11, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n