The US State Department expressed dissatisfaction with Tehran's position on negotiations on the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The corresponding statement by the spokesman for the State Department Ned Price is quoted by the Associated Press.

The official believes that Iran is allegedly dragging out the discussion of the nuclear deal.

“We are ready to return to Vienna to complete the work on returning both countries to the JCPOA as soon as Iran makes all the necessary decisions,” Price said.

So the head of the press service of the State Department reacted to the words of the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of the Islamic Republic Abbas Arakchi that now Tehran is temporarily unable to negotiate due to the process of transferring power after the presidential elections in the country.

“We are going through a transitional period because a democratic transfer of power is taking place in our capital.

Therefore, the negotiations in Vienna should obviously wait until a new government is formed in our country, ”Arakchi wrote on Twitter.

Let us remind you that the head of the country's judiciary, Ibrahim Raisi, confidently won the elections held on June 18.

According to the Iranian Constitution, the President of the country heads the government.

Raisi's inauguration is due on August 5.

After that, he will have the opportunity to form a new composition of the executive bodies.

However, the words of Arakchi about the need to wait for the completion of the transit of power, Price called "an outrageous attempt to shift the blame for the current stalemate in the return of both countries to comply with the JCPOA."

Meanwhile, experts say that Tehran has taken a break in the negotiation process, proceeding from legal and reasonable grounds.

“There is nothing reprehensible in Iran’s actions.

The president has changed in the country, he will have a new team after the inauguration, of course, the provisions of the state's foreign policy can be revised or adjusted, "Vladimir Vinokurov, professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, explained in an interview with RT.

Difficulties of the "last step"

Practical work on the restoration of the JCPOA started in Vienna in April 2021.

It is attended by delegations from the United States, Iran, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, France and China - all participants in the nuclear deal concluded in July 2015.

In order to fully return to the terms of the agreement at the site in the Austrian capital, expert commissions were created to lift sanctions on Tehran and nuclear issues.

The United States, recall, unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and increased sanctions pressure on Iran.

In response, Tehran stopped fulfilling a number of points of the nuclear deal.

With the arrival of Joe Biden in the White House, who promised to restore the participation in the agreement that had been canceled by his predecessor Donald Trump, the situation, it would seem, began to change.

  • US President Joe Biden

  • Reuters

  • © Leah Millis

So far, a significant result of the Vienna talks has become an agreement on the continuation of inspections carried out by IAEA specialists at the nuclear facilities of the Islamic republic.

As Maria Zakharova, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, noted, close cooperation between Iran and the IAEA in the field of verification is an important stabilizing factor.

In mid-June, Arakchi announced that the parties were close to reaching a final agreement, and on the 23rd, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the negotiations "have practically reached the finish line."

At the same time, the diplomat stressed that the "last step" will be the most difficult. 

“Ryabkov was not cunning.

The last step, as I understand it, is to lift sanctions and stop uranium enrichment.

The main question is whether the United States will fulfill its obligations to lift restrictive measures, ”orientalist Karine Gevorgyan said in a commentary on RT.

The issue of lifting restrictions on Iran is more than relevant, since after the start of the Vienna talks, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Washington intends to maintain "hundreds of sanctions" even if Tehran returns to the implementation of the JCPOA.

Moscow believes that the Biden administration is not taking "practical steps that would indicate a rejection of the destructive course of their predecessors."

Maria Zakharova pointed this out in early July.

In a conversation with RT, Irina Fedorova, senior researcher at the Center for the Near and Middle East at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the United States is looking for pretexts to maintain the sanctions regime against Iran.

In particular, the Biden administration is making claims on the issue of mutual release and prisoner exchange.

As noted by Arakchi, Tehran is ready to release US and British citizens from their prisons, but requires Washington and London to fulfill their part of the obligations on "humanitarian exchange".

“Iran is interested in returning its citizens to their homeland and, of course, is ready to give up the Americans and the British.

But, as far as can be judged, the United Kingdom and the United States are striving to ensure that the exchange is not equal, ”says Fedorova.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatibzadeh said on Twitter that during negotiations in Vienna with American and British representatives, an agreement was reached on the mutual release of several people.

At the same time, the official stressed that Tehran does not tie the issue of prisoner exchange to progress in the situation with the JCPOA.

In a comment to NBC News, Khatibzadeh said that Tehran's top priority has always been the release of Iranian citizens who are "being held in American prisons on the basis of false accusations and far-fetched allegations."

“Unfortunately, the United States used this problem as a hostage in the negotiations in Vienna,” Khatibzade said.

Meanwhile, the State Department denies the conclusion of a deal on "humanitarian exchange".

At the same time, Washington is required to release all Americans who, from the point of view of the US authorities, were unfairly detained, refusing to discuss the possibility of similar steps on their part with regard to Iran.

  • Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatibzade

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Anadolu Agency

So, the special envoy of the United States to Iran, Robert Malley, said that the Joe Biden administration would not agree to a deal to release some of the convicts, as the 44th US President Barack Obama did in 2016.

He announced this in early July at a meeting with the Americans who returned from Iranian prisons, and the relatives of the current prisoners.

“We have made some progress.

But we have not yet reached the goal (in the negotiations on the exchange of prisoners. -

RT

).

Iranians ... in this respect are engaged in extortion and are trying to get as much as they can, "- quoted Malley TV channel NBC News.

Vladimir Vinokurov believes that Washington is trying to use the situation with the prisoners for its own political purposes, ignoring the positive experience of the Obama administration, when in January 2016 Iran released five Americans, and the United States authorities in response pardoned seven Iranians.

Meanwhile, in the United States, a growing number of Iranians are arrested and detained by the authorities for various reasons.

For example, this summer, four Iranians were detained in the United States in the context of the alleged attempt to kidnap the New York journalist Masih Alinejad, who criticizes the policy of official Tehran.

According to the US authorities, the "operation" was allegedly planned by the Iranian special services.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry called the accusation made by the American side "groundless and ridiculous."

"Postponed negotiations"

As Karine Gevorgyan noted, Washington continues to speculate on the exchange of prisoners, although there are no significant legal obstacles to a wide exchange.

“In Iran, American citizens are most often detained for espionage, in the United States, for terrorist activities.

At present, Iran is demonstrating its readiness to surrender American and British citizens, but with the condition of retaliatory actions against its citizens, ”Gevorgyan said.

  • Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi

  • AFP

  • © Atta Kenare

In turn, Vladimir Vinokurov believes that the Biden administration, instead of softening its position on the terms of the restoration of the JCPOA, is trying to "shift the blame" on Iran, which is going through a period of transfer of power.

“Price, like all Americans, is trying to shift the blame on other states.

China is to blame for the coronavirus pandemic, Iran is solely to blame for the problems with the nuclear deal.

Instead of looking for the guilty, the American authorities should carefully analyze their policy - it was it that led to the destruction of the JCPOA, ”Vinokurov said.

Irina Fedorova has a similar view of the situation.

In her opinion, the Biden administration is now acting against its own interests.

The expert believes that delays in the negotiation process will somewhat reduce the intensity of confrontation with the Republicans, who are categorically against the return of the United States to the JCPOA.

“The postponed negotiations on the nuclear deal are to some extent beneficial to the Democrats themselves, who are facing stiff resistance from the Republicans.

The Americans would hardly have been able to hold constructive negotiations at the moment, ”says Fedorova.

From the expert's point of view, violent disputes over the situation with the nuclear deal are also observed in Iran.

However, according to Fedorova, the new president of the republic, Ibrahim Raisi, is determined to reach an agreement on the renewal of the JCPOA.

“Raisi belongs to the conservative part of the Iranian political establishment, which tends to take tough positions. Despite this, he is an adherent of a return to the JCPOA, provided, of course, that the sanctions are lifted, ”the expert summed up.