TEHRAN – Despite the 7-month political deadlock in negotiations to save the Iran nuclear deal, the idea of an interim agreement continues to haunt international and regional circles to reimpose restrictions on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of U.S. sanctions.
Meanwhile, the US website Axios reported on Monday that the US administration has discussed in recent weeks with its European and Israeli partners a proposal for an interim agreement with Tehran, which includes sanctions relief in exchange for Iran freezing parts of its nuclear program.
The website pointed out that Iran has rejected the US proposal for the time being, and that US President Joe Biden is committed to Tehran's non-acquisition of nuclear weapons, and sees diplomacy as the best way to achieve this.
Officially, Iran has not yet commented on the matter, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said last month that the idea of an interim agreement does not exist in Tehran's lexicon, and that his country wants a full revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.
U.S.-China Rivalry
For his part, former Iranian ambassador to Jordan and Lebanon Ahmad Dastamaljian reads the subject of the interim agreement in the context of the US-Chinese competition for the Middle East, stressing that the introduction of the interim agreement after the repeated US assertion that the nuclear agreement is no longer among Washington's priorities came in response to the rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia under Chinese auspices.
Dastamaljian refers to the recent rise in oil prices after the announcement of members of the "OPEC Plus" alliance voluntary reduction in production, explaining - to Al Jazeera Net - that the United States sees itself outside regional agreements, and that the countries of the region are on their way to form an economic bloc with China, which pushes Washington towards activating nuclear negotiations with Tehran.
He added that with the approach of the upcoming US presidential elections, the Biden administration is seeking to score a point in the Iranian nuclear file, stressing that the focus of the Axios report on Tehran's rejection of the US proposal comes in the context of "demonizing Iran and blaming it for the failure of the nuclear negotiations."
Reasons for refusal
Talk of Western intentions to reach an interim agreement that would resolve some of the thorny issues between Iran and the United States sparked wide interaction in Iranian circles between those who consider it a conspiracy to implicate the country and therefore must be rejected permanently, and another segment that believes that it is the best option in light of the lack of chances to save the 2015 nuclear deal.
In the context, former Iranian ambassador to Armenia and Brazil Ali Sakkaian considers the Western proposal on reaching an interim agreement for Iran's nuclear program a "Western trap" to freeze parts of Tehran's nuclear program and reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium in exchange for promises to lift parts of the sanctions that Washington may return overnight, stressing the need not to fall into the Western trap.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Sakarian believes that the Western call for a temporary agreement "is a natural result of the breakthrough in Iranian-Saudi relations, and the failure of the Western conspiracy aimed at destabilizing Iran through protests," noting that Tehran had notified the Western side that the doors of nuclear negotiations will not remain open indefinitely.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned in late March against missing the opportunity to revive the nuclear deal, stressing that Iranian parliamentarians will pass a bill that sets a time limit for the government regarding the nuclear negotiations.
Sakian concluded that the interim agreement will not guarantee the interests of the Iranian people in light of the experience of the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, and expected the Western side to demand partial agreements for its other strategic programs if Tehran agrees to an interim agreement for its nuclear program.
National Economy
On the other hand, former Iranian ambassador to Norway, Sri Lanka and Hungary Abdolreza Faraji Rad reads the interim agreement in the context of Washington's Plan B following the failure of the Vienna negotiations, indicating that the Western side removed the option of reviving the agreement from its priorities after the Russian war on Ukraine and reports of strengthening military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.
Farji Rad explains, for Al Jazeera Net, that Europe and the United States consider Iranian-Russian cooperation a threat to European security and aligned with the face of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), pointing out that the western side considers Russia's supply of Iran with modern weapons disturbs the balance of power in the region.
The former Iranian diplomat added that reviving the 2015 agreement is a priority for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, noting that in light of the low prospects of saving the nuclear agreement at the present time, the idea of the interim agreement must be taken seriously to get the national economy out of its crisis.
Faraji Rad denied that the interim agreement was a bad option for his country, and urged Tehran to employ its diplomatic energies to break the economic blockade imposed on it, raise its oil exports on the one hand, and release its funds frozen abroad on the other.