The nuclear deal with Iran really seems to be one step away. CNN quotes a US administration source as saying Tehran would have succumbed on a ‘red line’ which was one of the most difficult points of the negotiation: the exclusion of the Revolutionary Guards from the US State Department’s blacklist of terrorist groups.
In the response sent in recent days to the draft nuclear agreement proposed by the European Union – which the EU has described as a “final” draft – Iran has not asked for the Pasdaran to be removed from the blacklist. “The current version of the text, and what they are asking for,” no longer contains that point, the official said, noting that the United States has repeatedly and consistently rejected the request. “So if we’re closer to a deal, that’s why,” he commented.
The source reminded CNN that President Joe Biden “has been firm and consistent in saying that he will not remove the designation of a terrorist group from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps”. And he added that although an agreement is now “closer than it was two weeks ago, the outcome remains uncertain as some gaps remain. President Biden will only approve an agreement that meets our national security interests.”