Iran split over talks with Europe to save nuclear deal
Iranian media outlets and officials are divided over working with Europe to save the nuclear deal, with hard-liners and conservatives insisting new negotiations will offer Tehran nothing.
In brief remarks about the fate of the nuclear deal, Ali Akbar Velayati, who is serving as foreign policy adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has expressed his doubt about the potential for Iran and Europe to reach an agreement over the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“It is unlikely that negotiations with the Europeans will work out. I hope we reach a result, but how long should we wait to see America applying sanctions against us or lifting the sanctions? We should be self-sufficient,” stated Velayati, who is also head of Islamic Azad University’s board of founders, in a meeting at the university.
Following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, the Iranian government announced that it would remain in the JCPOA if Europe provides guarantees to Tehran that its interests within the deal are secured. On May 15, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and his British, French and German counterparts in Brussels for talks on how to save the nuclear deal.
Mentioning the heated debates in Iran over the JCPOA and Europe’s potential role in saving it, Iranian commentator Reza Nasri wrote in the government-run Iran newspaper May 16, “Today, the highest Union officials — from [EU Commission President] Jean-Claude Juncker to Mrs. Mogherini, along with the presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers of the top powers of this continent — insist on the necessity of continuing the JCPOA, and sometimes speak of crossing America.”
