EU sanctions on Iran undermine nuclear talks

On Saturday diplomats from the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreed to continue the negotiations as well as technical consultations within the next few days.

At the end of the talks in the Austrian capital Vienna Iranian chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi stressed that the differences have not been settled yet.

He reiterated that some serious disagreements need to be resolved during further negotiations, the senior Iranian diplomat's remarks were in line with what the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, had earlier warned against; protracted talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear accord.

The leader has dismissed the proposals by the US during the talks.

The proposals made by the US are often arrogant and degrading and not even worth a look.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution

Iran has made it clear that it will only return to its commitments under the accord once it has verified that all imposed, reimposed and relabeled US sanctions against Tehran are removed. 

However, US media outlets have cited a source close to America's top nuclear negotiator, Robert Malley in Vienna, as saying that Washington is opposed to the removal of all sanctions imposed on Iran.

According to an article by the Foreign Policy magazine, Washington is willing to only remove sanctions outlining the nuclear deal, but sanctions not inconsistent with the JCPOA will remain in place.

That would suggest that the United States is seeking to divide anti Iran Sanctions into removable, irremovable and negotiable sanctions, however, that could strike a heavy blow against the talks to revive the deal ongoing in Vienna.

The removal of all sanctions is the only way to salvage the negotiations from collapse.

I've read several instances in American mainstream media referring to Robert Malley's effort right now he is trying to strike what they're referring to as a Goldilocks style deal to return to the JCPOA and what is meant by that is, a deal that is neither too hot or too cold, that strikes some sort of balance or that is just right.

The sanctions that the United States has placed on Iran are illegal under international law, it is a fact that they were purposefully muddled and conflated with terrorism to make their lifting more difficult and so this is just going to be something that the United States government is going to have to work out, to bring itself back into compliance with the deal that it signed in 2015 and United Nations resolution 2231.

Prof. David Yaghoubian, CSU San Bernardino

Last week the European Union sanctioned eight Iranian commanders and three entities over so called human rights violations.

The EU now has sanctions against 89 individuals and four entities in Iran.

The move was a big shock for Tehran, as it was involved in EU mediated talks to revive the JCPOA at the same.

Chief nuclear negotiator for Iran, Abbas Araqchi, lashed out at the EU sanctions, saying they have undermined the talks in Vienna.

And we told them that even your human rights sanctions that you imposed two days ago we considered as JCPOA related sanctions because right in the middle of the negotiations you decided to impose sanctions. And that is certainly to undermine the current negotiations and to undermine JCPOA all together. ... this is in fact a significant nonperformance by the European Union, to impose new sanctions or new designations as they call it.

Abbas Araqchi, Chief Iranian Nuclear Negotiator

Also the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, slammed the EU for imposing sanctions on Iran instead of condemning America's economic terrorism against 82 million Iranians and the incident at the Natanz nuclear facility.

This proves that the EU has no place in the world. It proves that not only the EU follows US policies, but it also follows the most extremist groups inside the US and Israel.

Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif

The top Iranian diplomat called the EU sanctions destructive saying Iran will respond to this action by imposing bans on European individuals.

I think that the most recent round of sanctions applied by the EU on Iran are purely to be used as a bargaining chip in the current talks in Vienna.

The EU has not placed sanctions on Iran since 2013, therefore, this application of sanctions against members of Iran's military, coming now, right in the middle of these very tendentious talks within Vienna, albeit so far, constructive, is a clear sign that the EU is once again, fulfilling its role as a vassal entity for the United States.

Prof. David Yaghoubian, CSU San Bernardino

On Friday Tehran announced that it had increased its nuclear activities, despite the sabotage attack, and its first batch of 60% enriched uranium was ready at the Natanz nuclear facility.

While the US tries to use the sanctions and acts of sabotage as leverage in the negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran has taken back the momentum by making that announcement on Friday.

Iran says it will not pay attention to Washington's rhetoric, and that the ball is in the US court to revive the deal, if it really wants to do so.

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