Rouhani, Zarif, clarify Iran’s conditions for reaching a compromise with Washington

Tabnak – This year, the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly has been dominated by speculations over a possible breakthrough in resolving the conflict between Iran and the US. Iranian officials present in New York explain the country’s conditions for such a move.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says efforts by his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron to de-escalate Washington-Tehran tensions and save a 2015 nuclear deal will bear fruit only if the sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran are lifted.

Rouhani, who is in New York to attend the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, made the remarks while addressing American media managers on Tuesday.

Rouhani said, “The French president’s efforts will be effective if Mr. Trump lifts sanctions imposed on Iran after his withdrawal from the JCPOA.”

“At that time, there will be a possibility of negotiations within the frameworks of the P5+1,” the Iranian president added. He noted that the continuation of sanctions is viewed as the US’s precondition for talks, saying, “This is while we believe that any preconditions should be first lifted for any negotiations.”

The Iranian and French president on Monday held talks in New York on ways to ease regional tensions and save the Iran deal. The two sides also discussed relations between Tehran and Paris.

After his talks with Rouhani, the French president said on Tuesday that he hoped there could be progress on Iran “in the coming hours.”

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran is open to the idea of a permanent for permanent machanism with the United States, which means Iran will agree to permanent inspections of its nuclear facilities if the US also agrees to permanently lift its sanctions against Iran -- measures that the two sides were supposed to take in 2023 under a multilateral nuclear deal prior to Washington’s withdrawal.

In an interview with CNN broadcast on Monday, Zarif confirmed an earlier offer, under which the Iranian Parliament would enshrine in law a fatwa (religious decree) by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei against nuclear weapons and sign the Additional Protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in return for the US lifting all anti-Iran sanctions and ratifying the measure through Congress.

“That offer is still on the table provided that the US would also do what they are supposed to do in 2023 now and that is to lift the sanctions through US Congress,” he said.

The 2015 nuclear deal, officially named the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed between Iran and six world states — namely the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China — in 2015.

Under the agreement, Iranian sanctions relief would be sent to Congress for ratification in 2023.

Washington, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018, with Trump calling it the “worst deal” ever and urging a “new” nuclear deal with Iran.

Tehran, however, says it will negotiate no new deal and has been, since May 2019, suspending parts of its commitments in retaliation for Washington’s withdrawal from the accord and Europe’s failure to protect Iran against the American bans.