US says seeking deal to revive JCPOA sans Russia

Walls Street Journals has cited a senior US State Department official as saying that the US won’t negotiate exemptions to Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia to save the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal and instead would try to strike an alternative agreement that excludes Russia if the Kremlin doesn’t back off from last-minute demands.

With one of President Biden’s top foreign-policy goals imperiled, the senior US official said Moscow had a week to withdraw its demand for written guarantees exempting Russia from any Ukraine-related sanctions that would constrain Moscow’s future trade with Iran. Such guarantees could undercut the West’s punishing array of sanctions leveled at Russia over the Ukraine invasion.

This could be another blame game by the United States to justify its reluctance to remove the sanctions on Iran and put the blame on Russia for a delay in agreeing to Iran's rightful demands to reach an agreement in Vienna talks.

The negotiators in Vienna have reached the final stages of discussions to restore the so-called JCPOA deal but the EU coordinator of the talks Josep Borrell said in a statement on Friday that has been paused due to external factors.

 Referring to the pause in ongoing Vienna talks, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said that the pause could be momentum for resolving any remaining issue and final return.

"No external factor will affect our joint will to go forward for a collective agreement," Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

Speaking with his Qatari counterpart on a phone call, the Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian criticized the US for bringing up new issues and stressed that the Islamic Republic of Iran is seriously working to reach a good, strong and lasting agreement.