Iran ready for new relationship with US, but the clock is ticking: FM Javad Zarif

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on February 1 said that Tehran is ready for a new relationship with the US, but the clock is ticking. In an interview with CNN, Zarif said that the Biden administration has a “limited window of opportunity” to re-enter the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The 2015 nuclear deal has been largely in tatter since Donald Trump withdrew from it unilaterally in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions as part of a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran.

Zarif said, “The time for the United States to come back to the nuclear agreement is not unlimited. The United States has a limited window of opportunity because President Biden does not want to portray himself as trying to take advantage of the failed policies of the former Trump administration”. 

The nuclear agreement offered sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear ambitions and guarantees it would not seek an atomic bomb. Iran has maintained that it has only pursued a civilian nuclear energy programme. However, Trump withdrew from the deal and bolstered sanctions on Tehran in a bid to force them into talks on a broader agreement that also addressed its ballistic missile programs and support for proxies around the Middle East. 

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Now, Tehran has made clear that any agreement with the Biden administration will be contingent on a reversal of the harsh economic sanctions imposed by the former Trump administration. Back in December, the Iranian Parliament had also passed legislation obligating the government to further ramp up uranium enrichment, if American sanctions are not eased within two months of the law’s adaption. When asked how swiftly Iran could scale back its uranium enrichment program to comply with the nuclear deal if the US lifts sanctions, the Iranian Foreign Minister said that 8,000 pounds of enriched uranium can go back to the previous amount in less than a day. 

While reiterating that Tehran does not seek a nuclear weapon, Zarif even said, “If we wanted to build a nuclear weapon we could have done it some time ago. But we decided that nuclear weapons are not, would not augment our security and are in contradiction to our, eh, ideological views. And that is why we never pursued nuclear weapons”. 

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EU’s Borrell could ‘choreograph actions’ 

A key criticism related to the original nuclear deal was that it did not protect neighbouring countries from non-nuclear threats by Iran. The deal did not even deter Tehran from funding militias in countries like Yemen, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been locked in a bloody war against a Saudi and UAE-led coalition. However, Zarif negated the allegations and said that Tehran has acted in accordance with dispute mechanisms written into the JCPOA, since the US withdrawal. 

Zarif said, "Iran used the mechanisms in the nuclear agreement in order to limit its cooperation. If you read paragraph 36, we acted in strict accordance with the nuclear agreement”. 

Further, Zarif called on the Biden administration to stick to the original conditions of the nuclear deal. He said that the US has to accept what was agreed previously. Zarif also added that the question over who must take the first step in returning to the JCPOA could be resolved by EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. “Borrell could put his hat on as coordinator for the Joint Commission of the JCPOA and sort of choreograph the actions that are needed to be taken by the United States and the actions that are needed to be taken by Iran," he said.

(With inputs from ANI) 

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