Biden relaxes sanctions on Iran in final stretch of nuclear deal talks
The Biden administration is easing sanctions on Iran in the final stretch of negotiations between Washington and Tehran on reviving the 2015 international nuclear deal.
The State Department sent a report signed by Antony Blinken to Congress, explaining the importance of the waivers in helping the talks in Vienna to return to the nuclear deal - known by its acronym JCPOA - signed in 2015 between Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and the United States.
According to the report, this easing of sanctions allows third parties to work on "security and non-proliferation projects in Iran". The report also mentions some of the most relevant activities in which other countries or external companies will be able to participate, such as the redesign of the heavy water reactor in Arak or the various research projects at the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, among others.
After Donald Trump's administration pulled the US out of the pact in 2018, and sanctions returned, Iran progressively began to ignore the JCPOA's nuclear restrictions. This makes it difficult for the US to return to the nuclear pact. However, Iran and the US have held eight indirect talks in Vienna since April, where the two sides have met with the aim of restoring the nuclear pact.
According to a senior US official, the latest negotiations in Vienna had been the most intense to date. He added that the list of differences had narrowed and that the time has come to make political decisions.
Although the waivers show an important step in the negotiations, Eurasia Group analyst Henry Rome explained that these "are less a gesture of goodwill or a concession to Iran, but rather technical steps that are probably intended to ensure that implementation discussions can move forward in Vienna".
Although the US has eased sanctions on Iran, a key point in the talks is the prisoner exchange. Since the start of indirect negotiations to bring the US back into the nuclear pact, Iranian and US officials have been trying to agree on a full prisoner exchange.
However, US administration officials claim that the prisoner exchange is not being taken seriously by the Iranian government, and according to a source connected to the negotiations, Tehran is "exploiting the file for funds by concluding an agreement for the release of four US hostages".
The source, who asked to remain anonymous so as not to complicate the negotiations, said on Voice of America radio that Iranian officials did not seem concerned about securing the release of their prisoners. The radio station, following these statements, also referred to the report published by Persian Service, which mentions that 16 Iranian prisoners are being held in US jails - most of them incarcerated for alleged or proven federal crimes. Meanwhile, in Iran, four Iranian-Americans are being held or imprisoned for alleged security offences.
Robert Malley, the US envoy for Iran, made it very clear at a press conference on 10 July that President Biden's priority was the release of all US prisoners and that he would not stop until this was achieved. Malley also reported at that press conference that "some progress" had been made on this issue.
Government spokesman Ali Rabiei confirmed these talks, adding that Iran "is willing to exchange all political prisoners in exchange for the release of all Iranian prisoners around the world", including those held at the request of the US.
However, these developments cooled considerably after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatibzade said that Iran rejected the release of US prisoners as a condition of the nuclear deal, and that it should not "further complicate these already complicated talks".
Coordinator Americas: José Antonio Sierra