The deal was signed by the oil ministers of Iran and Azerbaijan on Sunday night after the end of the bilateral meeting between Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev.
Iranian and Azeri presidents also attended the signing ceremony.
Under the agreement, Turkmenistan will transfer 1.5 to 2 billion cubic meters of gas each year to the Republic of Azerbaijan through the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan sign gas swap deal
Russia: JCPOA parties still have chances of agreement
“The attitude is positive, in a sense that it is necessary to make every effort to successfully finish the talks, as the alternatives vary between bad and really bad,” Russia’s permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, told Sputnik on Sunday.
“Opportunities to come to an agreement still exist,” he added.
On Saturday, Ulyanov’s Iranian counterpart, Ali Baqeri, left Tehran for Vienna to take part in the first round of the Vienna talks under President Ebrahim Raeisi and the seventh since they were launched in early April.
The Raeisi administration insists that its primary target in the talks is to have all of the United States’ unlawful sanctions removed in a verifiable manner.
The US slapped several rounds of sanctions on Tehran following its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), despite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s 15 consecutive reports saying that Iran had continued to fully observe all of its obligations under the JCPOA.
The administration of President Joe Biden, which had promised to return to the JCPOA and call off the so-called maximum pressure on Tehran, now calls for a mutual return to the deal.
Tehran says it never left the deal in the first place to have to return to it. It also stresses the need for the US to remove all of its sanctions in practice and provide a guarantee that it will never leave the deal again in order to gain a seat at the JCPOA table.
Days earlier, Ulyanov told the IAEA Board of Governors that the root causes of Iran’s reduction of its nuclear obligations under the JCPOA need to be mentioned whenever discussing the issue.
“No one talks about the root causes,” Ulyanov stated, adding, “It must be remembered that the termination of the temporary application of the Additional Protocol was the result of the [US] policy of ‘maximum pressure’ and the assassination of an Iranian scientist.”
He was making a reference to the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran’s top nuclear scientist, on November 27, 2021, in a terrorist attack widely attributed to the Israeli regime.
On May 8, 2019, exactly a year after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran announced that it was no longer bound by certain limitations on its nuclear program, triggering the “dispute resolution mechanism” under paragraph 36 of the deal, which provided Iran with the option of taking reciprocal measures in the face of the significant non-performance of the other parties, in particular the US.
Prior to that, during both the Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations, Iran had triggered the mechanism a number of times but refrained from taking reciprocal measures in order to keep the path of diplomacy open.
Since May 2019, Iran has been taking incremental “remedial measures” including enriching uranium to 60% purity and stopping its voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, after which Tehran and the IAEA have been at loggerheads.
Despite the disagreements, however, the IAEA has continued to confirm that Iran has not made a move to build nuclear weapons.
Iran has repeatedly said that it is not after developing nuclear weapons.
Iran, Uzbekistan call for inclusive govt. in Afghanistan
The announcement was made during a meeting between Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi and his Uzbek counterpart
Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the ECO summit in Ashgabat.
Raisi and Mirziyoyev said any government in Kabul should represent all Afghan ethnic groups and people and for the establishment of lasting peace and security in the country.
Raisi also said regional countries’ capacity to deepen relations is a good opportunity for them, underlining that in the current world situation, cooperation between regional countries turns many threats into opportunities. Raisi added that with the active presence of the countries, there is no room for foreign interference.
He referred to the volume of trade between the two countries, saying the foreign ministers of Iran and Uzbekistan should draw a roadmap for long-term cooperation.
During the meeting, Shavkat Mirziyoyev praised Iran’s active approach and said peace and stability in the region will be achieved with the participation of regional countries, and Uzbekistan welcomes any cooperation with Iran.
Mirziyoyev described the economic capacities and relations of Iran and Uzbekistan as a suitable platform for the development of ties.
He called for an increase in the volume of trade between the two countries.
US says likely to exert pressure on Iran over nuclear issue
“If Iran thinks it can use this time to build more leverage and then come back and say they want something better it simply won’t work. We and our partners won’t go for it,” US special envoy to Iran Robert Malley told BBC Sounds.
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – also known as the Iran nuclear deal – and re-imposed harsh sanctions against Tehran.
“If that’s Iran’s approach, which is to try to use the negotiations as cover for an accelerated nuclear program, and as I say, drag its feet at the nuclear table, we will have to respond in a way that is not our preference,” said Malley, who heads up the US negotiating team.
“Nobody should be surprised if at that point there is increased pressure on Iran,” he continued.
“We hope not to get that there, but if we are, then pressure will have to increase to send a message to Iran that the choice it is making is the wrong one. That it has a different path available to it, but it’s not a path open indefinitely because Iran’s nuclear program is putting the very essence of the deal negotiated (in 2015) at risk,” he added.
Tehran has stated Washington should stop excessive demands and remove the illegal sanctions against Iran and should first remove the sanctions before it could return to the landmark agreement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian has recently stressed Tehran will pursue a policy in the upcoming nuclear negotiations that will be aimed at removing the illegal and cruel US sanctions.
Representatives from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries — Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany — are scheduled to hold the seventh round of nuclear talks in Vienna tomorrow.
Ali Bagheri, the Deputy Foreign Minister, will chair the Iranian negotiation team in the negotiations. The top negotiator has stressed Washington must remove all sanctions against Tehran and provide guarantees that future US administrations will not leave the 2015 nuclear deal again.
Top Iran negotiator: West does not seek to implement a deal
This week, Iran and five global powers gather in Vienna for so-called “nuclear negotiations”. This very term — which is used to refer to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement — is rife with error.
Western countries, in particular the US, work tirelessly to portray “negotiations” as merely a process to restrict Iran’s legitimate and peaceful nuclear programme, which is enshrined in international treaties and watched by oversight organisations. From Iran’s perspective, however, “negotiations” must pursue real objectives, observed by all parties.
In this vein, we have two goals: the first is to gain a full, guaranteed and verifiable removal of the sanctions that have been imposed on the Iranian people. Without this, the process will continue indefinitely. “Negotiations” without an airtight solution benefit no one.
The second is to facilitate the legal rights of the Iranian nation to benefit from peaceful nuclear knowledge, especially the all-important enrichment technology for industrial purposes, according to the terms of the international Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Previous attempts to close the “trust gap” between parties of the nuclear talks have failed mainly because the west regards any agreement solely as an established platform from which to launch more pressure against Iran. In English, you call it “moving the goalposts”.
This is the crux of the dispute that has forced us, six years after the initial agreement, to the table yet again. We will be starting these new discussions under circumstances influenced by the unfortunate fate of the JCPOA, when US president Donald Trump unilaterally decided to abandon this deal. This was a terrible betrayal of trust for Iran and Iranians.
Experience tells us that the west does not seek to implement a deal. Rather, it seeks to score public perception points by announcing one while stealthily “dis-implementing” the agreement in every possible way. From our experience, this is followed by actions to “hijack” the JCPOA platform to force Iran to make more concessions in areas unrelated to the nuclear issue. As a result, the Iranian people trust neither the process, nor its outcome.
It would be naive to attribute these problems solely to the Trump administration and to his “maximum pressure campaign”. Constant US efforts to deny Iran any economic benefits for reducing its nuclear activities are why many once-passionate Iranian defenders of the agreement have now changed their minds: they no longer trust either its tangible benefits or its intent. Trump merely removed the velvet gloves from the cast-iron hand of the previous US administration.
From our viewpoint, past blunders should not be repeated. We have all, respectively, learned over the past six years what and who can be trusted. To ensure any forthcoming agreement is ironclad, the west needs to pay a price for having failed to uphold its part of the bargain. As in any business, a deal is a deal, and breaking it has consequences.
Iran remains committed to the process and we will adhere to our commitments. From our perspective, the principle of “mutual compliance” cannot form a proper base for negotiations since it was the US government which unilaterally left the deal. The US should therefore demonstrate that it is serious this time, and that it possesses the necessary competence to fulfil its commitments.
In Iran’s recent presidential elections, voters decided to invest their confidence in a paradigm that espouses a more realistic engagement with the west. Actions now matter more than mere words. We should be offered a clear and transparent mechanism to ensure that sanctions will be removed. For what other conceivable reason would we compromise regarding Iran’s technological advances and nationally-precious domestic nuclear programme?
Iran did not succumb to the use of either military threats, economic sanctions or “maximum pressure” under Trump and it will not do so under Joe Biden. In order to secure the rights and interests of our nation, we are ready for a fair and careful discussion, based on the principles of “guarantee” and “verification”. This must prioritise compensation for the violation of the deal, which includes the removal of all post-JCPOA sanctions.
In return, Iran is ready to voluntarily fulfil its nuclear commitments in accordance with the agreement. We remain prepared to react proportionately to any pressure and reciprocate any goodwill gesture.
We have made our choice. We will now find out whether or not the west has the will to enter real negotiations.
Raisi: Iran proudly hosts 4 million Afghans
Raisi and Emomali Rahmon met on the sidelines of the ECO summit in Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat.
Raisi expressed pleasure for meeting the president of Tajikistan again after the Shanghai Summit, saying “My first foreign trip as President of Iran was to Tajikistan, and this trip changed relations between the two countries.”
“We have no doubt that relations will expand, because the current level of trade is not convincing, and by restoring capacities between the two countries, the level of ties can be improved many times over,” he added.
While inviting Emomali Rahmon to Tehran, the Iranian president said Iran thinks that due to deep cultural and linguistic relations and a long history of friendship, the two sides should cooperate more than others.
Regarding Afghanistan, Raisi said Tehran’s position on the country is clear and it welcomes the formation of a truly inclusive government in Afghanistan that represents all Afghan people, ethnic groups and political groups.
The president emphasized that the US occupied Afghanistan for two decades and left only a trail of deaths and looting.
He said Iran proudly hosts about 4 million Afghans and it hopes that only Afghans can decide their own fate.
The Tajik president also said all ethnic groups should be present in the Afghan government, stressing that insecurity in the country is to the detriment of the region.
Turkish president: US training and arming terror groups
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a meeting with the Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, added the White House
is providing those groups with terrorist equipment to create insecurity.
Erdogan referred to the need for security arrangements based on the active presence of regional countries.
He said Iran, Turkey and Russia can maintain security and stability with the cooperation of other regional countries.
The Turkish president added his country views expansion of bilateral and regional cooperation with Iran as a must, adding Tehran and Ankara can give a momentum to the level of ties, especially in the economic sectors.
President Raisi also called for the establishment of peace and security in war-ravaged Syria.
President Raisi said, “We must use all our capacities to establish peace and security in Syria”.
He added regional problems must be resolved by regional countries and foreign interference will not only solve anything but it will also further complicate the situation.
Raisi also spoke of the situation in Afghanistan, saying the Islamic Republic of Iran supports the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan.
He expressed concern over Daesh’s activity in the country, saying regional countries must not let terror groups like Daesh and the PKK threaten security of the region.
On bilateral ties with Turkey, the Iranian president said Tehran and Ankara can boost the current trade and political ties to a strategic level.
He added that Iran and Turkey must pave the way for expanding economic relations and, to that end, they can review preferential tariffs.
The president also said Iran, Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan have many cultural and religious commonalities and they should not allow their ties to be disrupted and should disappoint their common enemies.
The meeting between Riasi and Erdogan was held on the sidelines of the ECO summit in Ashgabat.
Iran’s Covid deaths hit new low
The Iranian Healthy Ministry figures show the number of blue cities where the risk from Covid is lowest has increased to 219. There are no red zones. The number of orange and yellow cities is respectively 22 and 207. Meanwhile, single-day Covid fatalities since Saturday fell to 80, the lowest death toll in nearly 8 months. Over the past 24 hours, 3,781 new infections were logged including 649 hospitalizations.
The total caseload since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago is 6,108,882. Of that figure, 5,863,248 people recovered from Covid.
The downward trend gives credence to statements by authorities that their nationwide vaccination campaign has been effective.
The number of Covid vaccine doses administered to Iranians is 104,886,372. So far, 57,408,046 people have received the first dose of vaccine while the number of those who have been given the second shot is 46,510,395. The number of the third dose, known as the booster shot, is 967,931.
Despite the positive moves by the Healthy Ministry and the retreat of Covid, officials warn people against relaxing health protocols given the emergence of the new strain of the virus known as Omicron variant and the possibility of a new wave of the outbreak.
Germany’s new govt.: We will stick to JCPOA
The parties signed a governing coalition deal to this effect and declared the new government’s policies regarding domestic and international issues in the document. Germany’s Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats demanded all signatories to the JCPOA abide by their commitments under the deal.
Germany’s governing coalition deal addresses security and political challenges faced by Germany and other international issues including the Iran nuclear deal and the situation in the Middle East.
The publication of the 178-page document paves the way for the takeover of power by Olaf Scholz as Germany’s new chancellor. The government coalition deal refers to the Iran issue several times.
It also urges Iran to keep cooperating with the International Atomic energy Agency and remain committed to the JCPOA. The document however fails to cite inaction on the part of the European troika to stick to its part of the nuclear agreement.
It also highlights what it calls Israel’s security without referring to the Zionist regime’s nuclear arsenal which is full of atomic warheads.
Germany’s governing coalition deal also speaks of Israel’s settlement expansions in occupied Palestinian territories and reiterates opposition to the settlements.
Raisi: Daesh handiwork of Washington
Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi reiterated Daesh terrorists have been a handiwork of the US.
In a meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Arif Alvi, the Iranian president also called for support for oppressed Afghan people.
He stressed the roughly 4 million Afghan migrants currently residing in Iran is the result of the US invasion of Afghanistan.
“Twenty years of foreign presence in Afghanistan not only did not help solve problems facing the country, but had no outcome other than tyranny, killing, looting and insecurity,” Raisi said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran backs the formation of a broad-based government in Afghanistan represented by all Afghan people, ethnic groups and political factions, and we are ready to cooperation with Pakistan in that regard,” said the Iranian president.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the Economic Cooperation Organization summit in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat.
Iran’s president also called for the enhancement of all-out cooperation with Pakistan.
“The two countries enjoy not only a neighborhood relationship, but also deep-rooted emotional, historical and cultural bonds,” he said.
“Utilization of these potentialities in a bid to further boost mutual relations will serve the interests of the two nations and help promote regional progress and prosperity,”
He said the level of Iran-Pakistan relations should be upgraded, saying areas of cooperation include the development of border markets, transportation, energy and tourism, among other things.
