Lifting sanctions first .. Iran's leaders draw a roadmap to revive the nuclear deal

In light of the increasing escalation in threats and accusations between the Iranian and American sides, Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei cuts the way to Western calls for the expansion of the nuclear agreement, stressing that his country is in no hurry regarding Washington's return to the agreement concluded in 2015.

In view of the huge losses caused by the US sanctions to the Iranian economy over the past years, Khamenei attaches great importance to raising them as soon as possible, stressing in his recent televised speech that “there is no sense for the United States to return to the nuclear agreement except after the sanctions are lifted,” because its return to the agreement without lifting the sanctions It will harm the Iranian nation, he said.

In his engineering the features of Tehran's policy towards the next US administration, Khamenei did not forget his country's losses due to the withdrawal of the outgoing US President Donald Trump's administration from the nuclear agreement in 2018, as he instructed the Iranian authorities to work to compensate them later, and he also opened the door for his country to back down from its commitment to the agreement. Which is officially known as the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action" if the counterparty fulfills its obligations.

Iranian condition

While observers in Iran believe that the guide’s speech came to define the strategy regarding the fate of the nuclear deal in the era of US President-elect Joe Biden, the media site of Khamenei's office was keen to publish a file of dialogue with Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif, Parliament Speaker Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf, and all of Ali Akbar Velayati and Ali Larijani, the guide's advisors, and other high-ranking personalities, to draw up the roadmap in the nuclear file.

Zarif expressed his country's keenness to liberate the banking and oil sectors from American pressure (Iranian press)

Regarding the reason for Iran's insistence on lifting sanctions before Washington's return to the nuclear agreement, Minister Zarif says that the main goal of the agreement was to lift sanctions on Iran, but President Trump worked to empty the agreement of its content and impose new types of sanctions, as well as bring back previous sanctions.

Referring to the need to normalize Iran's economic relations with other countries, Zarif singled out banking sanctions and those aimed at zeroing Iranian oil exports, stressing that Iranian oil has its customers, but the US side used force to prevent them from buying it, and these pressures must end, according to his opinion.

Commitment versus commitment

Regarding the principle of "commitment versus commitment" in the Iranian strategy, Zarif said that Tehran has so far implemented, based on the guide's directives, "the policy of statement versus the statement and signature in exchange for signature and implementation in exchange for implementation" and that it will continue to implement this principle during the coming period, stressing that "at any time the party will In return, he will implement his commitments in the nuclear deal, and we will do so.

The Iranian experience from the US withdrawal is that the enemy cannot be trusted, according to the speaker of the Iranian parliament, who stressed that Tehran will not deal this time with Washington’s return to the nuclear deal as it did in 2015, and that it will take into account the experiences it has acquired during the past years.

Qalibaf stressed that Parliament has recently moved to assist Iranian diplomacy in "generating national power" and that it will follow up the implementation of all provisions of the law gradually lifting US sanctions to give the opposite party the opportunity to return to implementing its commitments in the nuclear agreement, explaining that uranium enrichment with a purity of 20% was part of Parliament's decision in the framework of the principle of commitment versus commitment.

Velayati confirmed that the expanded nuclear activities will be permitted for his country, starting from 2025, according to the agreement (Iranian press)

Iran's raising the level of uranium enrichment is a "very good step", according to Velayati, the advisor to the Iranian guide for international affairs, and says that it indicates his country's ability to increase its stockpile of highly enriched uranium when it decides to do so, because there is no legal barrier that would prevent it from using its nuclear program for peaceful purposes, especially In the field of nuclear medicine.

Do not negotiate missiles

Velayati referred to the guide’s fatwa prohibiting the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, and made clear that, except for nuclear weapons, all uses of nuclear energy will be "permissible and legitimate" for his country from 2025 onwards, according to the terms of the nuclear agreement signed with the International Sixth Party in 2015.

While Iran requires the lifting of sanctions before the United States returns to the nuclear deal, Larijani, the former speaker of parliament and advisor to the guide, affirms that his country will not accept any preconditions, especially regarding its regional presence and its missile program, considering the latter a "tool of strength."

In the end, "Washington's return to the nuclear agreement will not change the losses that the Iranian economy has incurred over the past years," which makes it imperative for the Iranian side to pursue compensation through various political, legal and other methods. This is what Kamal Kharrazi, former Iranian foreign minister and head of the Strategic Council for Foreign Relations, recommends.