US Special Envoy to Iran Robert Malley stressed, at a conference in Doha on Sunday, that his country’s sanctions once morest the Iranian Revolutionary Guards will remain regardless of the nuclear agreement or the issue of keeping this armed force on the list of terrorist organizations.
Mali said on the second and final day of the “Doha Forum” conference that “the Iranian Revolutionary Guard will remain subject to sanctions under US law, and our perception of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard will remain the same (…) regardless” of the agreement, which saw that its goal is not to “resolve this issue.” .
Tehran, the United States and other Western powers are close to reaching an agreement on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
After the issue was discussed in press reports, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian confirmed on Saturday for the first time officially that dropping the US “terrorist” designation of the Revolutionary Guards is among the few outstanding issues.
He stressed that Iran wants to drop the designation, although the commanders of the Guard requested that this not be an “obstacle” to the agreement if it serves Tehran’s interests.
But Mali said that the United States “has not decided to write off the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization,” stressing that “regardless of that, sanctions once morest the Revolutionary Guards will not be lifted.”
About a year ago, Iran and the powers still included in the 2015 agreement (France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China) began talks in Vienna with the indirect participation of the United States, which unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018.
The European Union assumes the role of coordinator in the discussions aimed at reviving the agreement through Washington’s return to it and the lifting of the sanctions that it re-imposed on Iran following its withdrawal, and the latter’s compliance once more with all of its provisions following retracting many of them in response to the American move.
Those concerned confirmed that progress has been made, with points of disagreement remaining that require “political decisions.”
On Saturday, European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told reporters in Doha, “We are very close (to reaching an agreement), but there are some outstanding issues,” adding, “I cannot say when and how, but it is a matter of days.”
However, Mali expressed reservations regarding the issue of reaching an agreement soon.
He said, “We are very close to achieving that. We have been very close now for some time, and I think that reveals the difficulty of the issues. So I would say that agreement is not at the door and agreement is not inevitable.”
During the talks, Western countries focused on the importance of Iran once once more complying with its full obligations, while Tehran stressed the priority of lifting sanctions and verifying that, and obtaining guarantees that the US withdrawal will not be repeated or its economic consequences.
Malley stressed that the administration of President Joe Biden “cannot provide any guarantee regarding what any (US) administration can do in the future,” adding, “This is the nature of our political system.”
The dialogue session with Mali was preceded by a similar session with former Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Kamal Kharazi, who stressed the need to withdraw the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorist organizations in order to reach an agreement.
“The Revolutionary Guard is a national army, and the national army cannot be included in the list of terrorist groups,” he said, reiterating Tehran’s request for “guarantees that no US administration will withdraw in the future” from the nuclear agreement.
“We are ready for an agreement. An agreement is imminent, but it depends on the political will of the United States,” he added.
