US downplays impact of Raisi’s election on Iran nuclear talks
21 June, 2021
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is playing down the impact that hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi’s recent victory in the Iranian presidential elections could have on Washington’s ongoing nuclear diplomacy with Tehran.
“If the president is person A or person B is less relevant than whether their entire system is ready to make verifiable commitments to constrain their nuclear programme,” Mr Sullivan said within an interview to ABC that was broadcast on Sunday.
Although Mr Raisi won a decisive victory in the Iranian elections on Friday, Mr Sullivan said the best decision about whether Iran returns to compliance with the nuclear accord in exchange for US sanctions relief lies with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The best decision for whether another lies with Iran’s supreme leader,” said Mr Sullivan.
“And he was the same person before this election as he's after the election.
“Ultimately, it lies with him and his decisions concerning whether he really wants to go down the road of diplomacy or face mounting pressure, not only from America, but from all of those other international community.”
Iran has slowly but surely scaled up its violations of the nuclear agreement since former president Donald Trump withdrew from the accord in 2018.
The United States and Iran have so far completed six rounds of slow-moving, indirect talks in Vienna aimed at deciding which nuclear activities Tehran must suspend and which sanctions Washington will need to lift to come back to compliance with the deal.
Delegations from the rest of the signatories to the accord - the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China - convened in Vienna this weekend following Mr Raisi’s election victory.
A staunch critic of the nuclear deal, Mr Raisi does not take office until August. While he's expected to undo a lot of the reformist policies enacted in the last eight years, Tehran might be able to reach a manage the US during President Hassan Rouhani’s final weeks in office - contingent on Mr Khamenei’s blessing.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett used Mr Raisi’s election to caution against a go back to the nuclear deal.
“Raisi’s election is, I would say, the last chance for world powers to awaken before time for the nuclear agreement and understand who they are doing business with,” said Mr Bennett. “A regime of brutal hangmen must never be allowed to have weapons of mass destruction. Israel’s position will not change upon this.”
Amnesty International called on Saturday for Mr Raisi to handle an investigation for crimes against humanity over his role in forcible disappearances and extrajudicial killings of prisoners in 1988 as well as a crack down on human rights in his current roles as Iran’s judiciary chief.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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