Exclusive: US Will Reject Iran's Moves For Major Change To Nuclear Draft

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Monday, “We have not offered our final conclusion to the opposite side yet. We will relay our final conclusion on the outstanding issues to the EU coordinator in writing by midnight today to see what feedback it will have and what reaction the US will show.”

Reiterating calls on the US to take “a realistic and flexible approach” to Tehran’s offer, he added that “The American side has orally agreed to two proposals offered by Iran,” and that Washington's oral acceptance of the Iranian offers "must turn into a text and it must show flexibility on one issue."

“However, the US ... wants to get more concessions and does not show flexibility. We must talk more and those parties that are trying to get our positions closer should [try to] get the Americans closer to our logical viewpoints,” he said, hinting that Iran will try to make the talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) linger on. 

Emphasizing the significance of the “upcoming days,” the Iranian foreign minister stressed that Tehran is ready to reach a conclusion through a foreign ministerial meeting and announce the final agreement if its views are accepted and its redlines are respected. 

Amir-Abdollahian’s remarks and statements by other officials show that Tehran is not yet satisfied with the EU offer on the table and expects more negotiations.

“We are close to an agreement provided that Iran’s red lines are respected,” Nasser Kanaani told his weekly briefing. “Relative progress has been achieved, but these advances have not fully satisfied Iran’s legal demands, and we have other expectations from the other side…”

Kanaani said consultations “at the highest level” had taken place and were “continuing.” Decisions over the nuclear program rest with the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), which has around 23 members, although are likely to be shaped by more informal meetings with Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader.

Although Iran may soon send its repsonse to the EU, it does not mean a final agreement. Iran statements show that Tehran is still determined to haggle for more concessions.

The official news agency IRNA cited Friday a “senior Iranian diplomat” that a European Union text presented August 8 by Enrique Mora, who has coordinated 18-month talks with world powers including the United States, “can be acceptable if it provides assurances."

August 15 deadline?

The Wall Street Journal August 9 cited “two people with knowledge of the discussions” suggesting the EU had set an August 15 deadline for an Iranian response, although the newspaper also quoted Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency saying it wasn’t for the EU to issue ultimatums.

Reuters news agency Friday quoted a European official suggesting an answer was expected from Iran within “a very, very few weeks.” A tweet from Iranian journalist Sara Massoumi Monday reported that Iran would respond by the end of Monday, August 15.

While European and American officials presented the Mora document as a “final text,” Iran reacted to it rather as a set of suggestions for restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement, the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action). IRNA called it “some ideas concerning some of the remaining issues.”

As Iranian and US negotiations left Vienna August 8 after the most recent round of nuclear talks, Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, tweeted that while “what can be negotiated has been negotiated” and that “behind every technical issue and every paragraph lies a political decision that needs to be taken in the capitals.”

Tehran Denies Rushdie Role

Opponents of the JCPOA in Washington seized on Friday’s attack on writer Salman Rushdie as further justification for breaking off talks with Iran, while some commentators in Iran have detected a plot designed to undermine efforts to revive the JCPOA.

Iran Monday rejected any connection with the stabbing of the author of the 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, deemed blasphemous by some Muslims. Suspect Hadi Mattar has denied a charge of attempted murder.

A statement Sunday from Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, on the Rushdie assault made no reference to the JCPOA talks: “Iranian state institutions have incited violence against Rushdie for generations, and state-affiliated media recently gloated about the attempt on his life. This is despicable.”

There was no mention of the nuclear deal, the JCPOA, in the official readout of the cabinet meeting, and state agencies reported that President Ebrahim Raisi only talked about the "discourse of resistance" as the only effective way to tackle problems facing the Islamic World.

‘Resistance’ is a label Tehran uses to refer to its allies and proxies in the Middle East who follow its foreign and regional policies.

Referring to August 14 designated as the “Day of Islamic Resistance” in the official calendar of the country, the president praised the concept of resistance in confronting “world arrogance”, an expression the Islamic Republic uses to refer to the United States. 

As the European Union submitted a final take-it-or-leave-it proposal to restore the Iran nuclear deal, some reports say Iran is unlikely to agree to a return to the JCPOA. 

The new text reportedly includes guarantees that foreign companies will be able to invest in Iran or operate there once sanctions are lifted, without fearing the repercussions of any party withdrawing from the deal, as the United States did in 2018 under President Donald Trump, but Tehran demanded more drastic concessions outside the scope of the original agreement, including over an International Atomic Energy Agency probe into undeclared nuclear material found in the country.

In an interview with TASS published on Sunday, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, said, "In the event of favorable development of events the final agreement may be reached as early as next week."

Underlining that EU coordinators have made several amendments to the text that is on the table now, Ulyanov noted that "However, it is possible if all countries participating in the Vienna talks agree with the version of the text provided by EU coordinators on August 8. If amendments, objections appear it is difficult to project further developments now. We have to wait for the beginning of next week.”

Emphasizing that the current text is “not an EU text,” he explained that it is developed by all participants of the talks that have been underway since April 2021. 

He reiterated that the US has apparently agreed, whereas Iran has not yet defined its position on the text, which is why “I will not speculate on what issues Teheran may still have. As coordinators, the EU’s representatives may offer compromise options, which they did.”

Conflicting messages came at the end of the latest round of Vienna talks to salvage the 2015 nuclear pact, which concluded on August 7 after 16 months of negotiations, as Ulyanov expressed optimism, the US envoy Rob Malley was quoted as voicing disappointment, and Tehran urging Washington to be flexible. 

President Ebrahim Raisi appointed Eslami to his current position in 2021 amid pressure by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding uranium traces found at three nuclear facilities used prior to 2003 when Iran’s nuclear program was secret.

The source who is familiar with the inner workings of AEOI told Iran International that Eslami has the task of erasing the traces of suspicious nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic.

There is reason to believe that the three sites were not only used prior to 2003, but also much later.

Eslami had served as Minister of Roads and Urban Development in the former government and his appointment as nuclear chief surprised many. For the younger generation, the former official’s background seemed unrelated to his nuclear post. 

However, a look at Eslami’s resume shows that he played a crucial role in the most critical stages of Tehran’s secret nuclear projects. 

Between 1987 and 1989, an envoy from the Ministry of Defense traveled to Dubai to meet Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani scientist who sold nuclear knowledge and enrichment equipment to the Islamic Republic. 

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Years later, Abdul Qadeer Khan confirmed the deal with the Islamic Republic in a television interview. 

The source with links to the Iranian Organization of the Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND) said, that the mission to Khan was carried out under the supervision of an office headed by Mohammad Eslami.  

In a chart leaked from nuclear documents stolen from Iran by Israel, the role of Mohammad Eslami is prominent. As the head of the Defense Industries Educational and Research Institute, he was involved in all aspects of Iran's secret nuclear program that grew into various branches over the years. 

One of the most important of these was the Amad project, the Islamic Republic's plan to build an atomic warhead that was pursued under the supervision of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's prominent nuclear figure and was stopped in 2003 when it was revealed or leaked. 

Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in November 2020, reportedly by Israel in a complicated operation resembling Hollywood thrillers.

The source in SPND said the supervisor of this project was Eslami, and the funds allocated to these programs were spent directly in line with Mohammad Eslami's discretion. 

With the closure of the "Amad" project, Iran's secret nuclear projects continued in a new organization, the SPND. 

For two years after the signing of the JCPOA, Eslami was the deputy of industrial and research affairs of the Ministry of Defense and a member of Iran's nuclear program. 

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 An office mentioned in the nuclear administrative chart of the Islamic Republic is of particular interest. The Orchid Office is an important center in Iran's program to acquire nuclear weapons, according to our source. A building on Orchid Street in Pasdaran district, Tehran, is where major contracts are signed was managed until two years ago by Eslami until Fakhrizadeh was assassinated. 

SPND was the center where Fakhrizadeh was pursuing his unfinished plan for the Amad project on a separate budget line.

The United States has sanctioned SPND exactly for its secretive nuclear work.

The two nuclear sites of Sorkh-eh-hesar, [Tehran], and Marivan near Abadeh, Fars Province, were given to SPND so that Fakhrizadeh could pursue his plan to produce nuclear weapons with the cooperation of Saeed Borji, an expert in atomic explosions. 

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However, by looking at the history of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, each of the heads of this organization was appointed out of a specific necessity. 

During the years when the secret nuclear program was pursued in the Ministry of Defense, Reza Amralahi was the head of the organization. 

With the development of this program and the need to build and equip extensive facilities such as Natanz, in Esfahan Province, Gholamreza Aghazadeh became the head of the organization. This former oil minister had the power to inject cash into Iran's nuclear program. 

His strong disagreement with then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led Ali Akbar Salehi to become the head of the organization. Salehi who was Iran’s former representative at the IAEA took the helm of the Atomic Energy Organization when the negotiating team when the UN Security Council was issuing sanction after sanction against Iran in early 2010s. 

With the assassination of nuclear scientists and under the pressure of the Revolutionary Guards, Fereydoun Abbasi became the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, who himself had survived an assassination. 

Although years later, in an interview with the Ensaf News website, which was deleted after publication, a security official considered his assassination suspicious and raised the possibility that he was a spy. Abbasi was one of Fakhrizadeh's colleagues and one of his vociferous opponents and rivals. 

When the JCPOA’s time arrived, Salehi returned to the AEOI as a scientific figure. 

With the election of Raisi in the most engineered election in the history of the Islamic Republic, Eslami is the repository of Islamic Republic’s nuclear secrets and was appointed as the best suited person in the post of nuclear chief to eradicate all traces. 

He announced August 1 that the Islamic Republic had achieved the ability to build nuclear weapons.

During his one-year tenure, Iran has hardened its position not to provide further explanations to the IAEA on past nuclear work and Eslami has turned off most of the international watchdog’s monitoring equipment in Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

He seems to be a man who has returned to Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization to clear his and his colleagues’ footprints on the secret part of Iran’s nuclear program.