TEHRAN

- Almost 3 months after Ibrahim Raisi came to power in Iran, the deadline for resuming the seventh round of talks between Iran and Western countries in Vienna on the Iranian nuclear file is still unknown, as the Iranian Foreign Ministry said only that the talks will resume in the coming weeks.

However, observers believe that there are two issues that will affect the future of the Vienna talks, which are how to continue Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the change in the composition of the Iranian negotiating team after the changes in the country's diplomatic apparatus.


New negotiation team

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said recently that the composition of the Iranian team negotiating nuclear talks with the West is still under study, stressing that changes will occur in the team.

Also yesterday, Wednesday, Iranian media quoted an official in the US State Department that Washington is following what the new officials are saying in the media, which makes it aware that the new Iranian team may not accept the framework that was negotiated in advance, "which is the same framework that we were negotiating before last June 20.

America's maximum pressure

Some experts believe that the change in the nuclear negotiating team indicates that Iran is in no hurry to resume negotiations.

International affairs and foreign policy analyst Dr. Mustafa Khosh Jashem believes that Iran "is not in a hurry to resume talks with the West, and we are now at the end of the period of maximum American pressure, and we have passed its peak, while the Iranian side has not yet begun to pressure the American side," he said.

Khush Jashem - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - indicated that "the government of Mr. Raisi and members of the negotiating team are critics of the Rouhani government's foreign policies, but since the decision on the nuclear file is taken by the entire regime, Iran's goals, demands and conditions are the same as before, The new negotiating team will stick to it."

Iranian analysts believe that Washington has reached the end of its maximum pressure, and it seems that Tehran is not in a hurry to resume negotiations with it (Reuters)

Reasons for delaying negotiation

The political analyst believes that the reasons for Raisi's government delaying the resumption of nuclear negotiations are due to its review of the negotiation strategy with the West, and the implementation of a package of defense policies aimed at reducing the impact of sanctions, in addition to formulating an offensive policy package that includes the use of pressure tools in the nuclear, military and other fields.

According to Khush Chashem, "these policies will bear fruit in the coming weeks, and based on this road map and the new approach a new Iranian negotiating team will go to Vienna."

Prior to the start of new rounds of Iran's nuclear negotiations with the West, Iran tried to expand its economic and security horizons towards the east, as well as with its neighbors, and seeks to strengthen its relations with Arab countries and other Asian countries.

Foreign Affairs, not the Supreme Council

Abbas Moqtadai, deputy head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in Parliament, had recently revealed that the issue of the nuclear file "will not be of great importance in the new Iranian diplomatic apparatus, and it will be dealt with as a normal issue, and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will follow up on this issue," which he understood from him. Reducing the Supreme National Security Council's follow-up on the nuclear file, which is of particular importance in Iran's foreign decisions and is subject to the supervision of the Iranian leader.

Among the most prominent areas of contention in the negotiations between Iran and the West from Tehran’s point of view is the United States’ insistence on changing some of the terms of the nuclear agreement, as well as using the nuclear file as a “platform” to address other disputes, including missiles and regional issues, and that the Biden administration cannot provide any guarantees from Subsequent US administrations did not withdraw from the agreement.

For his part, Dr. Fuad Izdi, an expert on American affairs and a professor at the University of Tehran, says that Iran's strategy is announced and is based on returning to commitment to the nuclear agreement if Washington returns to implement its commitments.

He added to Al Jazeera Net that "the problem is that the Americans are looking for a stronger and longer-term agreement, and they want more concessions beyond the nuclear issue."

Izdi continued, "Changing the negotiating team will not change Iran's performance, and the success of the negotiations is in the hands of the Americans, and if they return to the nuclear agreement according to the 2015 agreement, the negotiations will be fruitful, and if they want more concessions from Iran, they will not reach anything."


Obstacle to the Iranian parliament

Added to all of the above is the commitment of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian - which he announced during his recent meeting with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas - that the Iranian government will continue the Vienna talks, and that it will abide by the Iranian Parliament’s decision, a decision that the government of former President Hassan Rouhani considered a reason for the failure Vienna nuclear talks and an obstacle to lifting sanctions.

According to this resolution approved by the Iranian parliament in December of last year, if the “4+1” countries (Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia) do not fully fulfill their obligations towards Iran, the Iranian government is obliged to resume 20% uranium enrichment and increase the reserves of enriched uranium. , reducing the level of inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and suspending the implementation of the Additional Protocol two months after the issuance of this decision.

Various indicators confirm that the seventh round of talks between Iran and Western countries will resume in the coming weeks, but it is still unclear if the United States is ready to return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, or that Tehran will make more concessions in order to reach an agreement with Washington. .