Russia Halts Iran Nuclear Deal Amid Ukraine Attack Sanctions

Negotiations to reactivate the agreement that prevented Iran from developing nuclear weapons were suspended today due to Russia’s demand that Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine do not affect its economic and atomic projects in the Islamic Republic.

“Due to external factors, a pause in the Vienna negotiations is necessary”, announced on Twitter the high representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, whose office coordinates the contacts that have been held for eleven months in Vienna.

Behind this euphemism lies the stumbling block created by the Russian demand that the series of sanctions imposed by the West not affect its interests in Iran, a country with which, for example, it is negotiating a contract to expand the Busher nuclear power plant.

Delegations from Russia, China, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have been negotiating with Iran for almost a year to restore the agreement known as JCPOA (for its acronym in English), while the United States, which abandoned it in 2018, participates indirectly. .

Interests in Iran

“Russia twice requested that civil nuclear projects related to the JCPOA be protected, that is, to ensure that they are not affected by sanctions.”, explained a senior European official who requested anonymity.

Although the EU and the United States were open to including some type of commitment in the final text of the agreement, Russia increased its demands for guarantees.

“The Russian demand is outside the agreement”, explained the source, who recalled that the objective of this nuclear negotiation has nothing to do with Iran’s bilateral relations with other countries.

“The negotiation has not broken down”

From the EU it is ensured that “negotiations have not broken down” and that the matter can be resolved if Iran and China make use of their good relations with Russia.

In this sense, the Chinese delegation was today willing to “push for an agreement” and trusted that in the next few days they can be given “the finishing touches” To the text.

Now Russia is expected to make a move in the coming days, although in European diplomatic circles a certain “frustration” is recognized at this break when the agreement seemed close.

The Vienna negotiation aims for the Iranians to once again comply with the limits that the JCPOA sets on its atomic program, and for the United States to withdraw the sanctions that it re-imposed on Iran when it left the agreement in 2018.

On the Russian side, its chief negotiator, Mikhail Ulianov, rejected in Vienna what he described as a “attempt to put all the blame on Russia” and stressed that there are other reasons for the break.

“We are in favor of the talks being concluded as soon as possible, but the conclusions do not depend only on Russia. There are others who need to solve their problem among themselves“, he pointed.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry reacted by assuring today that “no external factor will affect the collective will to go ahead with a collective agreement.”

Iran has been pointing out the last few days to the United States as the person responsible for the agreement, which everyone agrees is practically ready, receiving the final push.

The truth is, according to diplomatic sources, that the issue of lifting US sanctions against Iran “is almost closed” and only technical and legal issues need to be resolved.

In fact, the text of a final agreement is so advanced that it only lacks a few “footnotes”, illustrated Enrique Mora, number two of the EU diplomatic service and who coordinates the negotiation on behalf of Borrell.

deal on the table

Borrell himself stated today when announcing the break that “a final text is essentially ready and on the table”, to which Ulianov responded by saying that as long as some issues remain open, there can be no talk of a final document.

In fact, last Friday, European and Russian negotiators agreed that the negotiating process was almost complete.

The next day, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asked for assurances that trade and military relations with Tehran would not be affected by the sanctions.