Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a joint press briefing with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Saadabad Palace in Tehran, Tuesday, July 19, 2022. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi speaks during a joint press briefing with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Saadabad Palace in Tehran, Tuesday, July 19, 2022. (AP) Iranian President Raisi reiterates call for nuclear deal guarantees ahead of UN visit. Tehran would be serious about renewing the accord on its nuclear program if there were guarantees that the US would not withdraw from it again, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in an interview broadcast on Sunday. For the latest headlines, follow our Google News feed online or through the app.
Last month, Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran needed stronger guarantees from Washington to revive the 2015 deal and urged the UN atomic watchdog to drop its “politically motivated investigations” into Tehran’s nuclear work. Speaking to the CBS show 60 Minutes in an interview he conducted last Tuesday, Raisi said: “If it’s a good and fair deal, we would be serious about reaching an agreement.” In remarks ahead of a visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Raisi added: “It has to be permanent. There must be guarantees. If there was a guarantee, then the Americans could not withdraw from the agreement.
He said the Americans had broken their promises over the deal, which saw Tehran curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from US, European Union and UN economic sanctions. “They did it unilaterally. They said ‘I’m out of the deal.’ Now there’s no point in making promises,” he said. “We cannot trust the Americans because of the behavior we have already seen from them.” Therefore, when there is no guarantee, there is no trust.” The US network described the interview with journalist Lesley Stahl as Raisi’s first interview with a Western reporter. “I was told how to dress so I wouldn’t sit before him and interrupt him,” Stahl said.
During months of talks with Washington in Vienna, Tehran demanded assurances from the US that no future US president would leave the deal, as former President Donald Trump did in 2018. In March, business appeared close to recovery. However, indirect talks between Tehran and Washington then broke down on several issues, including Tehran’s insistence that the International Atomic Energy Agency end its investigation into traces of uranium found at three undeclared sites before the pact is restored.
There are no signs that Tehran and Washington have managed to break their impasse, but Iran is expected to use the UN General Assembly to keep the diplomatic ball rolling by reiterating its willingness to reach a sustainable deal. However, President Joe Biden cannot provide the ironclad guarantees that Iran is seeking because the deal is more of a political understanding than a legally binding treaty.
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