Vienna Talks Continue With Details Scarce As Two New Negotiators Join

In a televised speech Sunday morning Ali Khamenei said that "Negotiations with the enemy at a certain juncture does not necessarily mean surrendering." The anti-Western ruler of Iran tried to convey the message to his hardliner supporters that although he is prepared for another round of "heroic flexibility"in a bid to have sanctions lifted, his opposition to the United States is unwavering.

"Not surrendering to the enemies, is one of the principles of the Islamic revolution. However, holding talks and negotiating with the enemy at a certain juncture does not mean surrendering to it. We have never surrendered so far, and we never will," Khamenei said.

Khamenei’s statement comes after many politicians and pundits in Iran and abroad have been saying for years that Iran should try direct negotiations with the US, but Khamenei explicitly banned it in 2018.

Portraying the United States as the Islamic Republic's biggest enemy, Khamenei said: "America’s deep hostility and spite toward Iran stems from the Iranian people’s revolutionary, religious viewpoint on the current issues of the world. That is why the US, the leading “arrogant power”, opposes the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Claiming that US stances vis-a-vis Tehran is based on miscalculations, Khamenei reiterated: "The US system of calculation is defective. It cannot fathom the truths about Iran. When their calculation of the existing situation is wrong, their decisions are wrong too. This is why they have been unsuccessful so far and they will continue to be unsuccessful, God willing."
Based on his accounts of certain episodes in Iran's history in the 18th and 19th and 20th centuries, Khamenei said that only the grand ulema [prominent Shiite clerics] are capable of mobilizing masses of the people against big powers. Khamenei concluded that this reveals why "arrogant powers are against religion, clerics” and Shiite political Islam.

Khamenei reiterated: "The United States is basically against the Islamic regime in Iran because Washington knows that this system is the outcome of religion and is a manifestation of the Iranian nation's religious beliefs." He added: "Religious zeal based on reason turns threats into opportunities. An example of this is the war imposed by Saddam on Iran. The US, USSR, NATO, etc. united in this international war to defeat Iran, but the people’s zeal that is based on faith defeated all of them."

Meanwhile, expounding on his conspiracy theory about the West, Khamenei said that "The enemies are trying to erode Iranians' responsiveness to the principles of the Islamic revolution through a massive propaganda campaign on cyberspace and foreign-based [Persian] media. However, he did not mention that widespread and systematic corruption among clerics and officials has vastly contributed to the erosion of the underlying beliefs in the ruling system.

He also did not mention that many blame his regime's mismanagement for wasting a wealthy country’s resources, or criticism that his own unreasonable ambitions led to wasting billions of dollars on a nuclear program that has had no positive outcome for the people in more than four decades.

Nonetheless, he warned Iranian intellectuals that "It is unfair to say that the principles of the Islamic revolution do not serve the people's interest and do not guarantee their future."

Khamenei's critics even those such as former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have said on various occasions that nothing has remained of the main principles of the revolution, namely independence, freedom and an Islamic republic.

Critics have often argued that the regime's over-reliance on Russia and China and massive concessions to them has undermined Iran's independence. Meanwhile, thousands of political prisoners languishing in Iranian prisons, one of whom died in custody on Saturday because of neglect, bear witness that there is no freedom of expression in Iran. Critics say nothing has remained of the idea of a Republic in Iran particularly after the latest round of presidential election where everyone knew the winner months before the voting day.

Prince Abdullah bin Khalid Al Saud met Malley on Friday after separate meetings with representatives of France and Russia this week.

The US State Department said earlier in the week that such periodic meetings “are part of the US commitment to consulting closely with our regional partners on the ongoing talks”.

Russian chief negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted a photo of his meetingwith the Saudi envoy, saying that he briefed the Saudi side on the latest developments in the Vienna talks.

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud reiterated Riyadh’s concerns about Iran’s “destabilizing role” and “transgressions” in its nuclear program.

Riyadh and Tehran held talks last year to reduce tensions with the aim of restoring diplomatic ties broken since January 2016. So far, the talks have been exploratory with no tangible results.

The eighth round of talks to salvage the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions, is underway in Vienna. However, Iranian and US officials don’t meet face-to-face, communicating through other participants.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki in her daily briefing evaded the question is Iran-backed groups were responsible for drone and rocket attacks against bases where US troops are stationed in Iraq and Syria.

“But here, officially, we don't have any specific attribution today, in terms of the particular group by name or groups who might be responsible for this. We don't have anything new on that front,” she said.

On Thursday, however, an Iraqi militant group tied to Iran had already claimed responsibility. In a statement published by al-Mayadeen, Qasem al-Jabbarin (which means Smasher of the Oppressors) claimed responsibility for the Wednesday attacks on Ain al-Asad air base west of Baghdad.

The White House appeared to be avoiding any statement that would directly implicate Iran in the attacks as nuclear talks continued in Vienna to find ways to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement known as JCPOA.

But Psaki did allude to the possibility that the attacks could be tied to the nuclear negotiations. “We can't say definitively who caused them or why the attacks seem to have stepped up. It is certainly possible that it can be related to the talks in Vienna or the anniversary of the Soleimani strike,” The spokesperson said. Psaki then referred reporters to statements made by the Pentagon, which also indirectly referred to Iran.

The State Department meanwhile reiterated that negotiators in Vienna have made “modest progress” and again warned that time is short as Iran makes more progress in its nuclear program.

“If we don’t soon reach an understanding on mutual return to compliance, Iran’s accelerating nuclear steps will hollow out those nonproliferation benefits the JCPOA conveyed, and we will have to consider a different path forward. That is a matter of weeks; it is certainly not a matter of months,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. But he made clear there are no definite deadlines as to when an assessment will be made that Iran’s nuclear progress has gone too far.

“But again, you have heard us speak to this not as a clock, as a standard clock, but rather on the basis of a technical assessment of Iran’s nuclear program rather than any sort of temporal clock with a date that has long been fixed,” Price said.

Critics have said that without a clear deadline, Iran can play for time and gain leverage by a far-advanced nuclear program. The United States and its three European allies in the talks – France, Germany and the United Kingdom – have been warning about time being short since early December.

Meanwhile, Iranian media on Friday continued to issue optimistic reports on the talks, saying that negotiators are maling progress.

Price, however, reiterated that if the US gets to the point where the JCPOA is deemed meaningless by Iran’s nuclear progress, “we will consider a different path.”

In an opinion article in the Wall Street Journalon Thursday, two authors argued that the United States should quickly prepare a military option to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and set back its program for years. The demonstration that Washington is serious about a military option, might coax Iran to negotiate seriously, and if all fails, President Joe Biden will have the option to act in a timely manner to stop Iran from building a bomb.

According to the official government news website IRNA, Ali Bagheri-Kani made the remarks on Thursday as he met with Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-Kun on the sidelines of the official negotiations.

He added that "unilateral US sanctions cannot justify the non-payment of debts to Iran".

The Korean diplomat said in a tweeton Thursday, “We exchanged views on our bilateral relationship including the frozen fund. Korea and Iran will work together and preserve our historically important relationship.”

Washington says it will waive sanctions on South Korea over frozen Iranian assets only with “everything” agreed in Vienna nuclear talks.

Since introducing ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions and leaving the JCPOA in 2018, the US has imposed banking sanctions on Iran. Two South Korea banks hold $7-9 billion of Iranian money, owed for oil imports.

Iran has funds frozen not just in South Korea but in Japan, Iraq, India, and China, mainly for oil and gas deliveries. The semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported November 13 that Iran's assets frozen abroad totaled $50 billion, with $8 billion in South Korea, $3 billion in Japan, and $6 billion in Iraq.

As a major past buyer of Iranian oil, Seoul holds around $7 billion in payments owed to Iran for purchases made before the United States imposed sanctions on Tehran’s international banking transactions. Washington began its ‘maximum pressure’ in 2018 as it left the 2015 nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The South Korean foreign ministry said Thursday that Choi Jong-kun, first vice foreign minister, had called for “positive progress” with talks at "a critical juncture.” In meetings with – among others – Robert Malley, US special envoy for Iran, and Enrique Mora, the senior European Union official chairing formal talks in Vienna, Choi had “reaffirmed that our government will continue diplomatic efforts for progress…[and] actively play any role that it can possibly play.”

While two Korean banks hold money owed Iran for oil sales before ‘maximum pressure’ kicked in, the resulting stand-off with Tehran has disrupted previously lucrative bilateral trade, with Tehran restricting imports of Korean consumer durables.

Ulyanov tweeting photos

With both US spokesman Ned Price Tuesday and chief Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri-Kani Wednesday intimating talks were progressing, Russia’s lead negotiator in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted Wednesday a photo showing remaining JCPOA participants, without Iran, meeting the US delegation.

As the US left the JCPOA in 2018, formal talks involve remaining signatories – China, France, Germany, Iran, Russia, and the United Kingdom – with Washington taking part only indirectly. Sticking to JCPOA structures and to its insistence that the US as the party leaving the agreement should mend its ways before re-joining, Tehran refuses face-to-face meetings with Washington.

Ulyanov tweeted that the process was moving “slowly but steadily.” The Russian negotiator, who is Moscow’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, seems to have taken on a greater liaison role with tensions rising, at least in public, between Iran and the ‘E3’ of France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

“Regular meetings of JCPOA participants (without Iran) and the US after 6pm provide a good opportunity to take stock of the latest developments in the course of the Vienna talks,” Ulyanov tweeted.

The Russian envoy also noted that any deadlines for the talks were fluid, apparently distancing himself from European pronouncements that time is running out due to Iran’s continuing expansion its atomic program under steps began in 2019 beyond JCPOA limits.

‘European spies’

In Washington this week, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Tehran had squandered trust and that limited time remained to save the JCPOA. After transatlantic tensions during the administration of Donald Trump (2016-20), Europe has sought a more positive relationship with President Joe Biden.

Baerbock tweeted Wednesday a picture with Antony Biden, US Secretary of State, with a message that there was “no alternative to dialogue” and that the two sides had agreed to “collaborate closely” over Russia, presumably a reference to tensions over Ukraine rather than to the Vienna talks.

The latest Iranian broadside aimed at the Europeans came from Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, spokesman of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, in an interview with the official news agency IRNA published Thursday.

Meshkini said that with Vienna talks reaching “the content of the proposals” Iranian negotiators would not be deterred by “European spies” or by talk of deadlines.

Meshkini suggested discussions were continuing on proposals put forward by Iran and by others. The Vienna talks, which began back in April, have struggled to agree which US sanctions breach the JCPOA and exactly how Iran’s nuclear program, expanded and refined since 2019, could be brought back within JCPOA limits.