Lavrov: Currently unrealistic to expect new agreement on Iran deal
Expectations of any additional agreements to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program are unrealistic under current circumstances, with little more than a year to go until the 2024 US presidential elections, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Thursday, TASS reported.
“I doubt it would be very realistic to expect this [revival of the JCPOA – TASS] with a new administration potentially coming to power in the United States in a year’s time,” he said. “Who knows whether that administration will be Democratic or Republican? And nobody can guarantee that this new administration would refrain from using the trick of withdrawing from the agreement again,” he added.
According to the top Russian diplomat, the JCPOA was simply killed by the US, which, “despite all requirements under the UN Charter, refused to implement the resolution, adopted by the consensus,” which finalized this agreement. “When the new administration of [US President Joseph] Biden came to power, they said they were ready to restore the program …, but instead of making a decision to fully revive the resolution and the JCPOA itself, they have been bargaining … for something extra from Tehran,” Lavrov lamented.
Informal consultations taking place “on the quiet,” have been held between Iranian and US officials on how to restore dialogue by means of “unblocking the illegally frozen Iranian assets abroad in exchange for resolving the fate of certain American nationals who face criminal charges in Iran,” Lavrov explained. “We would only welcome a scenario wherein this relationship could be normalized, but, as I said, that has little to do with the JCPOA,” he said.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany struck a nuclear deal with Iran in 2015 to address the crisis over its nuclear program. Then-US president Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, while incumbent President Biden has repeatedly signaled his willingness to bring the US back into the deal.
The US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany have been in talks with Iran in Vienna since April 2021, seeking to restore the JCPOA in its original form. In November 2022, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said the latest round of talks with Iranian officials ended in the Austrian capital without achieving any specific results.