July 28, 2021

By Parisa Hafezi

News Agency in Battle Creek MI, USA | Apadana Media

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday declared Tehran would not accept Washington’s “stubborn” demands in talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal and said the United States had failed to guarantee that it would never abandon the pact again.

“The Americans acted completely cowardly and maliciously,” state TV quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.

“They once violated the nuclear deal at no cost by exiting it. Now they explicitly say that they cannot give guarantees that it would not happen again.”

Since April 9, Tehran and six world powers have been in talks to revive the nuclear pact ditched three years ago by then U.S. President Donald Trump, who argued it favoured Iran.

The sixth round of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington adjourned on June 20, two days after hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi was elected president of the Islamic Republic. Parties involved in the negotiations have yet to announce when the next round of negotiations will resume.

Like Khamenei, Raisi has backed the revival of the nuclear pact but officials have said that his government might adopt “a hardline” approach. Khamenei, not the president, has the last say on Iran’s state matters, including the nuclear policy.

Iranian and Western officials have said significant gaps remained to reinstate the deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program to make it harder to obtain fissile material for a weapon in return for relief from tough sanctions. Iran says it has never sought nuclear weapons and never would.

HARSH SANCTIONS

Harsh sanctions reimposed by Trump since 2018 have prompted Tehran to violate the deal’s limits. However, Tehran says its nuclear steps are reversible if Washington lifts all sanctions.

U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to reinstate and eventually broaden the pact to put more limits on Iran’s nuclear work and its missile development and constrain its regional activities.

Khamenei again flatly rejected adding any other issues to the deal.

“In the recent nuclear talks, the Americans staunchly insisted on their obstinate stance. When making promises and on paper they say they will remove sanctions, but in practice they have not and they will not,” Khamenei said.

Khamenei said Washington is “stubborn” and insists on adding a sentence to the existing nuclear deal.

“By adding this sentence, they want to provide an excuse for their further interventions on the nuclear deal and (Iran’s) missile work and regional issues,” Khamenei said. “Then if we refuse to discuss those issues, Americans will accuse Iran of violating the nuclear deal and they will say the agreement is over.”

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi)

News Agency in Battle Creek MI, USA | Apadana Media

The post Iran’s Khamenei blames “cowardly” U.S. for pause in nuclear talks appeared first on APADANA MEDIA.

National Media Agency in MI | Iran Seeks Leverage in Nuclear Standoff

News: Tehran wants U.S. to lift sanctions as price to recommit to landmark accord; some say moves aim to pressure Biden

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, shown in 2019, faces pressure to shorten the steps toward building a nuclear weapon.
PHOTO: ALEXEI DRUZHININ/KREMLIN/REUTERS

Since President Trump withdrew the U.S. from a multilateral agreement aimed at curbing Iran’s atomic ambitions, Tehran has moved steadily to step up uranium enrichment and, most recently, said it was starting work to produce a key material used in nuclear warheads.

European diplomats, who have sought to salvage the accord, say they see the Iranian moves as an effort to increase pressure on Washington and President-elect Joe Biden to rejoin to the deal and lift sanctions.

The question now is: Have the Iranians gone so far that a U.S. return is less likely?

Since the Trump administration started its maximum-pressure sanctions campaign, policy makers in Tehran skeptical of the 2015 accord have gained more sway, pressing President Hassan Rouhani to take increasingly serious steps that shorten the path to a nuclear weapon, according to Iranian officials.

“The hard-liners want to show public opinion they can achieve better outcomes,” said one senior Iranian official.

The post Iran Seeks Leverage in Nuclear Standoff With U.S. appeared first on APADANA MEDIA.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday Iran had informed it that it had begun installing equipment for the production of uranium metal. It said Tehran maintains its plans to conduct research and development on uranium metal production are part of its “declared aim to design an improved type of fuel.”

News | Apadana Media

The post European powers press Iran to back off latest nuclear move appeared first on APADANA MEDIA.