Time.news – The delegations of Iran and the six world powers engaged in negotiations in Vienna to save the 2015 nuclear deal (JCPOA) they reviewed for the first meeting after the election of the ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisì as president of the Islamic Republic.
The sixth round of talks, which began on 12 June, ended with the meeting of the Joint Commission: the delegations will now return to their capitals for consultations “in preparation for what should be the last round of negotiations”, he announced on Twitter. the Russian negotiator, Mikhail Ulyanov.
The representative of Moscow, always the most optimistic at the negotiating table, stressed yesterday that “an agreement to restore the pact is within our reach, but has not yet been concluded”.
A negotiation started in April
Iran and five great powers – Germany, China, France, the United Kingdom and Russia – have been negotiating in the Austrian capital since the beginning of April the return of the United States to the agreement and the return to full compliance with its commitments by Tehran, which failed to fulfill most of its obligations after the unilateral US withdrawal from the agreement in 2018 and the restoration of sanctions, decided by the Donald Trump administration.
After the official announcement of Raisi’s victory, Washington – which participates indirectly in the negotiations – criticized the vote (calling it “neither free nor fair”) also for the low turnout: 48.8% of voters went to vote, a negative historical record for the presidential elections in the 42 years of the Islamic Republic. Despite the denunciation, the US has assured that it will continue to engage in negotiations in Vienna to “follow up on the significant progress made during the last round of talks”.
“Closer than ever to an agreement”
“Now we are closer than ever to an agreement, but the distances that exist between us and an understanding remain and bridging them is not an easy job,” said Iranian chief negotiator Abbas Araghci. on state TV, hoping that today’s meeting will lead to “a conclusion” and that the delegations will be able to return to their respective capitals to make a final decision. Araghchi said he was “strongly confident” that a result will be achieved in the next and seventh round of negotiations. Statements which, it must be remembered, are not new to the Vienna table.
In mid-August, the hawk Raisi will succeed the pragmatic Hassan Rohani, one of the proponents of the 2015 nuclear deal; the change of guard will hardly see a turnaround in the negotiations in Vienna, which are taking place with the approval of the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, the highest office of the Islamic Republic who has the last word on all strategic dossiers.
Reaching an agreement for Iran is essential in order to restore momentum to an economy that the American economic sanctions have helped to suffocate, fueling the discontent of the electorate, which yesterday deserted the polls.
The economy of residence to sanctions
Raisi, like the Supreme Guide, is a promoter of an “economy of resistance” to sanctions, made up of alliances with regional partners, with an eye above all to China and Russia, and based on the strengthening of the national production system, which, however, without European technologies, investments and know-how has little prospect of being able to ensure a robust recovery. A more prosperous economy will also serve to ‘buy’ a social peace, which instead the strong disconnect between power and society, sanctioned by this vote, risks blowing up.
The new government, which will take office in 44 days, hopes to collect the credit that will come from the economic benefits resulting from the agreement and the lifting of the sanctions, which could be announced even before the new executive is officially sworn in. The date everyone looks to is July 14, the anniversary of the signing of the JCPOA.
Israel’s “wake-up call
The election of Raisi, however, sounded as “an alarm bell” in Israel, where Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned that “for the world powers this is a signal that could be the last before the return to the nuclear agreement”. “A regime of executioners cannot have weapons of mass destruction,” he added. Israeli officials, meanwhile, have warned that Raisi’s rise leaves “no choice” but to attack Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 reports, citing government sources.
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