The Biden administration has expressed its openness to loosening sanctions against critical elements of the Iranian economy, including oil and finance, and is helping narrow minor disparities in nuclear talks, according to people familiar with the issue.
Despite the progress, senior diplomats warned that weeks of difficult negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal lie ahead and that progress remains fragile. The talks in Vienna are complicated by domestic politics in Washington and Tehran and by Iran’s refusal to meet directly with the US
President Biden wants to return to the 2015 deal after former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018. stipulations and boundaries difficult for both parties.
Senior officials in Vienna closed five days of talks this week, with delegations returning home before the negotiations resume next week. People involved in the talks say progress has been made now that the US has set out more clearly the contours of the sanctions it is willing to provide.
Many of the sanctions were imposed by Mr. Trump with the help of US terrorism authorities, and US officials have previously said they are willing to consider lifting some of them. But they have not detailed which sanctions could be relaxed or which Iranian entities would be affected.
While Iran says it is not trying to build nuclear weapons, a look at the key facilities suggests it could develop the technology to make them. WSJ is tearing down Tehran’s capabilities as it reaches new uranium enrichment milestones and limits access to inspectors. Photo illustration: George Downs
Two people familiar with the case said the US is open to lifting terror sanctions against Iran’s central bank, its national oil and tanker companies, and several key economic sectors, including steel, aluminum and others. A senior European official said Washington has also identified potential sanctions for sectors such as textiles, automobiles, shipping and insurance, all industries that Iran would benefit from in the 2015 agreement.
Lifting terror sanctions against some of those state entities and critical sectors of the economy would be a significant tonic to the crippled economy and represent a large chunk of the country’s income.
US officials in Vienna outlined the types of sanctions being considered, but without making a detailed proposal, according to those familiar with the matter.
The two sides disagree over Iran’s request to the US to lift the designation of Iran’s elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The US is not currently considering lifting terror sanctions against the IRGC, people familiar with the case said.
More about Iran’s nuclear program
Also likely controversial is the US terror list from the office of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, officials said.
While the Biden administration has said it was willing to roll back Mr. Trump’s sanctions, officials have also said they reserve the right to maintain some of the actions against Tehran’s support for militant groups and its ballistic missile program.
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said US officials appeared serious in their offer to lift the sanctions. But he said Washington must go beyond generalities and describe exact details.
“In some steps we found them serious,” he said. “In some steps they speak ambiguously. Now we should see. “
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, second from the right, visited an exhibition on Iran’s nuclear performance in Tehran earlier this month.
Photo:
Office of the Iranian Presidency / Associated Press
Iran reduced compliance with the 2015 agreement following the Trump administration’s withdrawal and expanded its uranium enrichment activities. An Iranian official said that a return to the nuclear deal would only end 800 new US sanctions and terror designations, about half of the 1,500 Iran estimated to have been imposed on its economic sectors, institutions, businesses and individuals.
Unraveling Iran’s complex web of sanctions is a politically daunting task for the Biden team. Opposition to a possible agreement is growing among Republican critics of the Biden administration. A group of Republican senators are pushing for legislation that gives Congress the power to prevent the government from lifting Iran’s sanctions.
Proponents of keeping the sanctions in effect say any relief would undermine the leverage Washington has to secure a new, strengthened deal, pointing to Tehran’s available currency reserves plunging to its lowest point in decades. That figure is offset by a surge in Iranian oil exports since the Biden administration took office, with China taking on much of the new output amid the perception that Washington is taking a more lenient approach to Iran.
There has also been progress in talks on Iran’s path to compliance with the 2015 agreement, which have been limited to what to do with its stock of three tons of enriched uranium, and what is happening with the advanced machinery that Tehran has installed. to produce nuclear fuel faster. .
Officials also said Iran had left the talks to not insist that the US lift all sanctions imposed since 2015, when the nuclear deal was implemented. Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, told The Wall Street Journal last week that while Tehran’s demand ended all sanctions, it was willing to negotiate that demand.
However, hardliners in Tehran publicly disagree with Mr Araghchi, creating domestic tensions that are worrying Western officials. The state-run English-language Press TV on Tuesday quoted an informed source as saying that Iran would not accept consecutive sanctions lifting and that Iran should verify any sanctions before they are reciprocal, which would take up to six months.
The parties to the 2015 deal, which also include France, Germany, Russia, China and Britain, have agreed to create a new group to address a pivotal challenge in the talks – right on top of each other align what steps the US and Iran should take, and when, on sanctions that lift and reverse Iran’s violations of the deal.
Negotiators also said they have started drafting texts of possible agreements this week for discussion in the coming sessions.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations nuclear agency and chief negotiator at the talks, told the Journal that work had begun to draft steps the two sides should take to re-establish the agreement. He said negotiations could be concluded by the end of May, when an agreement ensuring that the International Atomic Energy Agency oversees Iran’s nuclear activities expires.
“I don’t believe there are insurmountable obstacles to a deal,” he said.
—Sune Engel Rasmussen contributed to this article.
Write to Ian Talley at [email protected], Benoit Faucon at [email protected] and Laurence Norman at [email protected]
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