Sanctions stall resumption of negotiations between Washington, Tehran

Iranian MPs have overtly refused to make any concessions to the US for the resumption of negotiations on the missile programme and the nuclear agreement.

The conservative wing in parliament, which has an overwhelming majority in the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly, believes that there is no point in returning to negotiations between Tehran and Washington on contentious issues.

While US President Joe Biden announced that Washington would not lift sanctions imposed until Tehran stops enriching uranium, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei insisted on the need to lift the sanctions first, in order for his country to fulfil its nuclear deal obligations.

Tehran has also repeatedly affirmed that it would not be possible to stop uranium enrichment as Washington desires, unless the US sanctions are lifted, in addition to restricting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of Iranian nuclear facilities.

Iran’s losses

Iranian MP for the North Khorasan province Muhammad Bakumahr indicated that his country would not return to negotiations with the US on the missile programme and other issues.

He added: “The Iranian government will implement the laws approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly because the people are calling on the government to take concrete steps against the intransigence of the successive US administrations against Iran.”

“The nuclear agreement with the United States was signed years ago, if it needs to be modified to avoid some shortcomings, then it cannot be brought up now, so there is no point in talking about the agreement not meeting the needs of the signatories,” Bakumahr explained.

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He continued: “Iran has not surrendered to the chaos that the American side works to stir, and did not back down from its rights stipulated by the agreement. Tehran can always turn sanctions into opportunities and has already proven the uselessness of penalties.”

“Who will compensate for the damage caused to the Iranian people?” Bakumahr asked, stressing that Tehran does not have banking relations with the European Union countries. “We cannot pay the membership fees of the United Nations, due to sanctions.”

The Iranian MP confirmed that his country did not withdraw from the nuclear agreement, blaming the US side for the consequences of suspending the agreement.

After former US President Donald Trump took office, Washington unilaterally withdrew from the agreement on 8 May, 2018, and imposed sanctions on Iran again. Meanwhile, the latter suspended its commitment to the agreement on 5 January, 2020, in response to the sanctions and started enriching uranium at high levels.

New escalation

Iranian MP for the Tabriz governorate Muhammad Murtada Al-Din stated that his country will continue to enrich uranium in accordance with the law approved by the Iranian parliament, and that there is no room for restarting the negotiations of the nuclear deal.

Al-Din, who served as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s deputy, added: “The Iranian parliament opposes the negotiations with the United States, the supreme leader of the revolution (Khamenei) made a final decision in this regard, and the government cannot enter new negotiations.”

The Iranian deputy denied the possibility of resuming negotiations on Iran’s missile programme, remarking that: “The world knows that the United States cannot be trusted, and Biden should be smarter than his predecessor, Trump.”