Commentators In Tehran Say Russia ‘Will Sell Out Iran’ For Ukraine

In an interview with Iran International TV, Ulyanov said that the two sides “disagree on the JCPOA, so there was nothing to discuss” about the Iran nuclear talks.

The Russian envoy, who has taken an active role in the Vienna negotiations, said “We discussed the UN Conference on WMD-Free Zone in the Middle East, where all other regional states participate, except for Israel.” He added, “We maintain regular dialogue with Israeli counterparts.”

The Israeli delegation, headed by Joshua Zarka, the foreign ministry’s deputy director general for strategic affairs, met Tuesday with Ulyanov, Russia’s top negotiator in the Vienna talks, and Monday with Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The visit by the Israeli delegation was seen as an attempt to gauge the state of the talks as diplomats insist the process in its final and critical stage. The United States has warned that time is running out if an agreement is not reached soon.

Israel opposes the revival of the JCPOA, which it believes would be insufficient to stop Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons and would result in the removal of US sanctions, giving Iran a financial lifeline.

Nephew, who is known as the architect of Washington’s sanctions on Iran, was serving as the deputy to US especial envoy to Iran Robert Malley until December 6, when he left the US negotiating team along with two others, over what was reported as differences with Malley at the time.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Nephew said he stepped down from his post “due to a sincere difference of opinion concerning policy”, adding that he no longer serves in the State Department since last week and intends to return to academia.

“Although my views and record have been and continue to be mischaracterized by quite a few people, I do not intend to convey any further details at this time or in public, given the ongoing nature of discussions in Vienna”, he added.

Advocating a tougher posture, Nephew, along with two other US negotiators, left the team because the Biden administration failed to achieve a more assertive approach in the talks, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Nephew, who is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, published a book about the sanctions in 2017, titled The Art of Sanctions: A View from the Field.

Nour News – an official Iranian outlet affiliated to the Supreme National Security Council –tweeted that “the overt and unexpected presence of the Zionists in Vienna is undoubtedly a deterrent to progress in the current sensitive situation.”

The Israeli delegation, headed by Joshua Zarka, the foreign ministry’s deputy director general for strategic affairs, met Tuesday with Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s top negotiator in the Vienna talks, and Monday with Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Although Israel is a member of the IAEA, its nuclear arsenal is not subject to IAEA monitoring as Israel is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty.

Ulyanov played down the significance of Zarka’s trip, tweeting that he had met with “Israeli colleagues from the capital and their Permanent Mission in Vienna” to discuss issues related to the IAEA. Russia has long called on both Iran and the US to return to the JCPOA.

Zarka tweeted in reply: “Thank you for a frank and important discussion.”

The Israeli delegation also met the United States Special Envoy on Iran Robert Malley, who leads a US delegation taking part indirectly in the Vienna talks, as well as representatives from China, France, UK, and Germany.

“Zarka went to Vienna to check what is cooking,” a senior Israeli official told the Axios website. “He met everyone other than the Iranians."

Graham repeated his attacks on negotiations underway between Iran and world powers in Vienna to renew the 2015 Iran nuclear program. “When it comes to the Iranian nuclear program, guardrails are missing around Iranian nuclear ambitions”, Graham said, calling for “red lines” over Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, ‘weaponization’ of that stockpile, and ability to ‘deliver’ potential weapon.

A supporter of former President Donald Trump withdrawing the US from the 2015 agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Graham said that while the crisis in Ukraine, or China’s relationship with Taiwan were “important, consequential moments in history… the one we’re not talking about enough is even more consequential: that the Iranians break out and acquire nuclear capability.”

While Russia and China were “rational” if “thuggish,” Graham said, “Iran is a theocracy motivated by religion [Shia Islam] that compels them to purify their faith and have the world submit. The Nazis wanted a master race, and the Iranians want a master religion. People like that cannot be ignored.”

‘There will be war’

Graham then evoked the Nazi holocaust: “I guarantee you the Jewish people can’t live that way…One Holocaust was enough. There will be war. Why can’t Iran have nuclear weapons? Because Israelis say, ‘Never again.’”

As some Israelis pointed out on social media that former top Israeli security and defense officials had supported the JCPOA, Graham met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and former premier and close Trump ally Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces a raft of corruption charges.

“I mentioned the idea of formalizing a mutual defense agreement, in very limited circumstances that would involve existential threats to the Jewish state [Israel],” Graham said. “What I’m trying to say is that I want a clear message to be sent in the 21st century, that destruction of the Jewish state means war with the United States.”

Netanyahu discussed a possible defense agreement with Trump in 2019 but Gantz opposed the idea as a departure from Israeli security policy. Rights group Amnesty International recently called for a halt in the US’s substantial arms sales to Israel.

On Friday, Democrat Bob Menendez and Graham introduced a bipartisan resolution that would ‘allow’ any Middle Eastern state access to nuclear fuel if they agree not to enrich or reprocess uranium. As a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty Iran has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under international inspections but restricted the program under the JCPOA. Israel maintains a nuclear arsenal outside the NPT without international monitoring.

The fracas arose after the embassy’s posted February 10 a photo of the Russian ambassador, Levan Dzhagaryan, laying a wreath at the foot of a monument to Alexander Griboyedov inside the embassy compound on Diplomats Day.

The social-media posts expressed outrage because of Griboyedov’s role in the 1828 Torkmanchay Treaty, ending the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828) and under which the Persian Empire ceding areas in the south Caucasus to the Russian Empire. Griboyedov was killed by a mob in Tehran in 1929 after being appointed Russia's ambassador.

In recent months anti-Russian sentiments have been quite high in Iran. Many Iranians interpreted the embassy's recent post as a reminder of Iranians' “humiliation” by Tsarist Russia, as some criticized its coincidence with the Islamic Revolution's anniversary, and others saying it amounted to a threat.

Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Monday that while the ministry had registered a protest, Tehran and Moscow had "excellent relations."

"Any prominent diplomat and seasoned ambassador knows that he must not do things that hurt the feeling of the people of his host country,” the spokesman said. “These matters have obviously been relayed [to Moscow] through the appropriate channel and will be relayed in the future.”

Lingering in history

"We should learn from history but not linger in it,” assistant foreign minister Raoul Mousavi wrote Tuesday. “Lingering in history does not benefit relations between nations.” Mousavi shared a photo showing damage to the minaret of Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad from Russian artillery shells in 1912, part of the instability that led the Cossack-trained Reza Khan seizing power in 1921 and proclaiming himself Shah.

Former Iranian diplomat Kourosh Ahmadi in a Telegram post quoted by Hamshahri newspaper argued that while killing Griboyedov was unjustifiable, the ambassador had treated the Iranian government, royalty, and people with disrespect in enforcing the Torkmanchay treaty, a staple of Iranian school text-books. "It's very strange for an ambassador to honor a person with such [unfavorable] background in the country where he is posted and even to publicize it there," Ahmadi wrote.

The Russian embassy has explained that the wreath-laying ceremony is held annually as part of Diplomats Day and was unconnected to any commemoration of the 1979 Revolution. "We consider these publications provocative and aimed at undermining friendly and cordial relations between Russia and Iran,” the embassy said. “The Russian Embassy will respond firmly in the same way to such fake insinuations in the future.”

The Russian embassy suggested in a series of tweets on February 11 that Iran International TV, the United States-funded Radio Farda, and BBC Persian had all blown up social media comments.