DUBAI: Iran’s supreme leader stated on Tuesday that his country’s destiny should not be connected to the success or collapse of nuclear talks with foreign powers, Iranian state media said, adding that the efforts to restore a 2015 nuclear agreement “are proceeding nicely”.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate say on all state decisions such as Iran’s nuclear programme, made the comments approximately a month after over a year of indirect discussions between Iran and the United States stopped. Both countries criticise one other for lack of “political will” to address lingering concerns.
“Absolutely do not wait for nuclear negotiations in preparing for the country and go forward,” Khamenei told a group of top officials, state TV reported.
“Do not allow your job be disturbed whether the negotiations reach favourable or semi-positive or bad results.”
In 2018, then-US President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions that have damaged Iran’s economy. A year later, Iran broke the constraints put on its nuclear programme by the 2015 deal to make it harder to manufacture a weapon. Iran insists its nuclear development is for peaceful use solely.
“The United States breached its promises (by quitting the agreement) and now they have reached a dead-end but Iran is not in such a scenario,” Khamenei added while urging Iran’s nuclear negotiators to continue “resisting America’s exorbitant demands.”
One of the remaining concerns is whether Washington will remove Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) off the US Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list, as sought by Tehran in order for the deal to be renewed.
Critics of eliminating the IRGC off the list, as well as those receptive to the notion, believe doing so will have a little economic effect since existing US sanctions drive international parties to shun the organisation.
The IRGC, formed by the Islamic Republic’s late founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is more than just a military organisation and has great political weight. It was placed under sanctions in 2017 and put on the FTO list in April 2019.
After Sept 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, the IRGC was sanctioned as a “specially designated global terrorist” (SDGT) on a separate US list.
Works at The Truth International Magazine. My area of interest includes international relations, peace & conflict studies, qualitative & quantitative research in social sciences, and world politics. Reach@ aimen.bukhari@tti.org.pk
