Iranian Pundit Says Tehran-Washington Secret Talks Will Continue

Princeton University faculty member Hossein Mousavian, who made headlines last year for bragging about the regime’s revenge against American officials over the targeted killing of IRGC's Quds Commander Qasem Soleimani, delivered a speech at the US Strategic Command’s Deterrence Symposium earlier in August. The US and EU-designated Soleimani coordinated Iran's proxy militant groups throughout the region to attack Israeli and US interests.

The Pro-Tehran pundit served as a key figure in Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the international community until 2005 and currently is a Middle East Security and Nuclear Policy Specialist at the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton. Oddly enough, he used to be the editor-in-chief of the regime-affiliated daily Tehran Times, which recently published a “sensitive” US government memo purportedly sent to US Iran envoy Robert Malley informing him of his security access suspension.

Mousavian’s appearance at the mid-August high-level event, which came to light on Monday, drew criticism from former US officials and Iran analysts as well as Iranian dissidents, who questioned why America’s premier military outfit would host someone who maintains close ties to the Islamic Republic and has even indirectly lauded the regime’s efforts to assassinate American leaders.

In January 2022, his remarks in a documentary made in Iran to mark Qassem Soleimani’s second death anniversary led to controversy when he gloated about how Iran’s threat to avenge Soleimani killing frightened the wife of Brian Hook, Washington’s special envoy for Iran at the time. “An American told me that Brian Hook’s wife had not slept for several days and that she was shaking and crying. That’s how afraid they were” Mousavian said gleefully in the documentary.

Reacting to Mousavian’s presence at the event, Omri Ceren -- a journalist and the national security advisor for US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) -- pointed out that there are many US officials sympathetic to the Iranian regime.

"Mousavian helped lead the murderous Iranian regime’s efforts to obtain nuclear weapons so it could threaten the United States and our allies with annihilation," said Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. "Now he’s in semi-retirement at Princeton as a full-time propagandist for the IRGC. Inviting him to spread lies at a US military seminar is insanity."

The former regime official started his speech at STRATCOM’s Deterrence Symposium 2023 noting that he was arrested in 2007 in Iran over charges of espionage for the US and was banned to hold any diplomatic post. However, former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, one of the main architects of the 2015 nuclear deal, described him as an official committed to the regime who "continues to work hard" for Tehran’s interests while working at Princeton.

Mousavian, who traveled to Iran to attend Soleimani's funeral, was Tehran’s ambassador to Germany when four Iranian dissidents were assassinated at Berlin's Mykonos restaurant in 1992. In December 2021, an American academic who was imprisoned in Iran for 1,216 days, said Mousavian is sympathetic to the Iranian regime, claiming that he stymied efforts to free him from prison.

Gabriel Noronha, a former Iran adviser at the State Department, told the Washington Free Beacon, "The decision to invite former Iranian ambassador Mousavian to speak to STRATCOM is unimaginably foolish.

He is a pawn and propaganda agent of the Iranian regime, Noronha added. "Congress should investigate the decision-making process that led to this entirely inappropriate speaking invitation."

Alireza Nader, a US-based Iran scholar, said it is "outrageous and dangerous that US STRATCOM invited a former regime official connected to the assassination of Iranian dissidents to be a speaker at its symposium, providing him access to America’s most senior military officials."

During his remarks at the STRATCOM event, Mousavian thanked Gen. Anthony Cotton – the commander of the US Strategic Command -- for inviting him to the event and said he would present an "Iranian perspective" on the current threat landscape within the Middle East. The United States must "rewrite their policy in the Middle East," he added.

He went on to criticize what he called American acts of aggression towards Iran, highlighting former President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. What he said was somehow the repetition of his views summarized in an article he penned for the Middle East Eye in 2020: Biden needs to revive the JCPOA, remove Iran’s Revolutionary Guard from the US terror list, and lift the sanctions against regime’s senior officials.

Describing him as “an agent of the Iranian regime,” Advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on Princeton last year “to dismiss him from any association or affiliation with the university without delay”, noting that “Mousavian’s affiliation with Princeton is a stain on the university’s reputation and credibility”.

“Efforts and negotiations are currently in progress to lift the sanctions, which are proceeding properly as they should. However, it is equally important to simultaneously pursue the path of neutralizing sanctions, with the most crucial indicator being the reduction of inflation,” Khamenei maintained.

‘Neutralizing sanctions’ is the terminology used by the Islamic Republic for referring to evading restrictions, for example by illicit oil exports or conducting banking transactions through front companies and intermediaries.

Khamenei’s reference to ongoing talks follows a deal announced earlier this month, whereby the United States agreed to unblock $6 billion of frozen in South Korea in exchange for the eventual release of five US citizens held hostage in Tehran. In June, the US had also agreed to release $2.7 billion from Iraqi banks.

Many observers suspect that the Biden administration has reached an unofficial, partial deal with the Islamic Republic to release nearly $20 billion in total and not enforce oil export sanctions if Tehran stops its uranium enrichment at 60 percent, which is just short of weapons-grade material.

This in effect leaves Iran in a stronger position, able to extract more concessions by threatening to breach an unwritten deal in the future.

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Having endorsed the ongoing talks, Khamenei immediately cautioned against a pro-Western outlook, saying those who see interaction with the world in “warm and intimate relations with a few Western countries” are making a mistake. “This outlook is wrong and relates to 100 years ago when a few European states controlled the world. Today, we should dispose of this old and reactionary outlook and understand that having global ties means relations with Africa, Latin America and Asia who have immense natural and human resources.”

Interestingly, Khamenei did not repeat his “Looking East” catchphrase, which means close ties with China and Russia with referring to Latin America and Africa. Sensing that amid sanctions and international economic isolation, Iranians blame the regime for their hardships, Khamenei and his subordinates claim that they are ready to extend a hand of friendship to many countries, with a few exceptions – namely Israel and the United States.

In fact, Khamenei praised the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi for having made progress in forging better ties with neighboring countries. In March, apparently urged by China, the Islamic Republic restored ties with Saudi Arabia after a seven-year hiatus.

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What the aging Iranian ruler seems not to understand is that most wealthy and technologically advanced countries and large corporations take the US sanctions and Iran’s authoritarian political and economic conditions into account when making major trade or investment decisions. 

Iran’s close allies are Syria and Venezuela, which rely on Tehran’s assistance, and Russia which itself is under heavy sanctions.

Khamenei also tried to defend the Raisi administration’s record, by praising the government’s rosy economic statistics and “successes” that most experts and many regime politicians in Iran reject as political propaganda. Even many loyalist conservatives dispute the administration’s claims of having reduced inflation and boosted production, as annual inflation is well over 50 percent and the national currency is near its all-time lows, trading around 500,000 rials per US dollar.

Amir-Hossein Feghhi (Feqhi) speaking to the semi-official ISNA website stated that the 2015 nuclear deal, based on what the Westerners believed, was an instrument to create a pause in Iran’s nuclear industry and to ensure that Iran does not pursue nuclear weapons. “Now, the entire world has concluded that Iran is not seeking to develop weapons, and the possibility of stopping Iran’s nuclear program no longer exists,” Feghhi emphasized.

Iran has accumulated enough enriched uranium to be able to produce several nuclear bombs, according to the experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA. It has effectively reached a nuclear threshold state and can use the fissile material to produce weapons possibly within months.

Feghhi, seemingly taunting the West said that now is the time to focus on economic relations, hinting at sanctions that were imposed after the United States withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and imposed crippling ‘maximum pressure’ on Tehran. The enforcement of these sanctions has gradually waned during the Biden administration, enabling Iran to boost its oil exports to almost pre-sanctions level, while enriching uranium to dangerous levels.

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He went on to say that “Iran used to negotiate for its undeniable right to enrichment and also for the removal of sanctions.” However, “we have moved past all these discussions. There is no one in the world who can reject Iran’s nuclear capability or claim it can be halted.” Regarding the sanctions, Feghhi said, “I believe shared economic interests should be the subject of negotiation.”

Earlier this month Washington agreed to release $6 billion of Iran’s money frozen in South Korea due to US sanctions, in exchange to free five American citizens held hostage in Tehran. In June, the US had also agreed to release $2.7 billion from Iraqi banks.

Many observers suspect that the Biden administration has reached an unofficial deal with the Islamic Republic to release nearly $20 billion in total and not enforce oil export sanctions if Tehran stops at 60-percent uranium enrichment, which is just short of weapons-grade material.

This in effect leaves Iran in a strong position, able to extract more concessions by threatening to breach an unwritten deal in the future.

Candidate Joe Biden announced in September 2020 that if elected President he would restore the JCPOA, signaling an end to former President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure policy. Immediately Iran’s illicit oil exports to China began to increase.

Days after the election, Iran’s parliament tabled a bill to obligate the government to increase the level of enrichment closer to weapons grade until the US would lift the sanctions. In early 2021, enrichment reached 20 percent and soon 60 percent levels, but the Biden administration entered talks with Tehran over the JCPOA in Vienna in April. After 18 months of protracted talks in Vienna the sides reached a deadlock, as Iran refused the last compromise offered by the European Union.

Biden seems not to have realized that Iran took advantage of his desire to restore the JCPOA to both evade sanctions and reach the nuclear threshold.

Iran’s nuclear deputy drove the point home, stating, We now comprehensive capabilities in the nuclear field, covering nearly all its dimensions and research and industrial sectors. We are well aware of what we possess, and of course, nuclear experts in advanced countries are also well aware of this, and they convey it to their policymakers as well.“

At times, they assert that all the funds have been unblocked, while on other occasions, their remarks suggest a different outcome.

The conflict between various statements is at times observed in the remarks of the same official in a matter of a few minutes. During his news conference Tuesday, President Ebrahim Raisi contradicted himself on the status of the funds.

When a Japanese reporter asked Raisi's opinion about $1.5 billion of Iranian assets in Japan, Raisi said in vague terms: "As we have declared earlier, we would welcome any hand extended to us as a sign of friendship but will cut off the hands of hostile countries." He added, "As regards the money you spoke about, one of the things we have done in my government was securing the release of our frozen assets. This is on our agenda in the area of foreign policy."

Raisi reiterated, "We would like to suggest to Japan to be independent and not be influenced by the Americans. We call on Japan not to freeze in any way any money we might have in that country, whether it is the price of goods we sold, or it is left in Japan as a trust."

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Some pro-government agencies such as the IRGC-linked news agency Tasnim first reported this part of Raisi's statement, which indicated there are frozen funds in Japan. But later Tasnim retracted it and replaced it with Rais insisting on not having any frozen assets in any foreign country.

A few minutes later, Raisi reversed himself while the news conference was still in progress that "We do not have any problems with Japan. The only country where our money was frozen in an oppressive way was South Korea. Our assets everywhere else are at the disposal of the Central Bank of Iran."

This, and remarks by Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in day earlier, indicate that Iran has possibly been assured by the United States that Washington has already agreed, or will soon agree to approve the release of all of Iran’s frozen funds.

So far, the United States has confirmed that it has approved the release of around $2.7 billion from Iraq and $6 billion from South Korea, but there has been no clarity about another $8 billion in Iraqi banks and up to $3 billion in Japan. In exchange, Iran has agreed to eventually release five US hostages kept in Tehran.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA on Monday quoted Amir-Abdollahian as saying, "Iran has no frozen assets in any country." He added that "Iran can now use the assets it has at its disposal." However, the Iranian Foreign Minister denied humiliating reports that said Iran was allowed to use its released assets in South Korea within the frameworks of an oil-for-food scheme under the supervision of the United States.

Amir-Abdollahian said, "The reports about oil for food are not true." Meanwhile, speaking about Iran's assets in Iraq, he said our assets at the TBI Bank of Iraq are constantly on the rise, which was a vague statement. The released funds from Iraq are supposed to be transferred to Oman from where they could be spent on Iran’s humanitarian purchases around the world.

The Foreign Minister also added that "oil for food" also does not apply to the £390 million Iran has received from the United Kingdom as London's debts to Iran dating back to the years before the 1979 Islamic revolution. Earlier reports had said that the money would be held in Oman and spent to buy food and medicine for Iran by Omani authorities.

Former Central Bank Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati said in a series of tweets about Amir-Abdollahian's statements that "If what the foreign minister says is true, it means that Iran now has several billion dollars of hard currency at its disposal." This then raises the question of why the Iranian currency does not rebound from the almost historic low of 490,000 per US dollar.

During this period, which marks the first five months of the Iranian calendar year, the total value of Iran's foreign trade reached $43.5 billion with 55.9 million tons of goods worth $19.3 billion being exported. Although Iran's exports have increased by about 27% compared to the same period last year, non-oil exports have decreased by 8.6% in terms of value.

The report shows that the amount of goods imported into Iran was 14.4 million tons worth $24.2 billion, which had a growth of 2.17% in terms of weight and 7.49% in terms of value. However, Iran's overall trade balance was in deficit of $4.9 billion at the end of these five months.

The main reason for the decrease, according to customs experts, is the decline in the global prices of petrochemical exports, which account for a big share of the Iranian exported output.

According to the customs administration, the main destinations for Iran's exports were China with $5.6 billion, Iraq with $3.5 billion, the United Arab Emirates with $2.3 billion, Turkey with $2.2 billion, and India with $845 million – with these nations accounting for over 75% of weight and approximately 75% of the total export value from March to July.

The geography for imported goods bore a similar profile with the United Arab Emirates at $7.3 billion, China at $7.1 billion, Turkey at $2.5 billion, Germany at $879 million, and India at $813 million.