Bagheri Kani: Secret Negotiations for Reviving the JCPOA Continue Through Oman

Ali Bagheri Kani, the head of the Foreign Ministry in the thirteenth government, announced that indirect talks regarding the revival of the JCPOA are ongoing through Oman. In a special news program on Wednesday, July 10, 1403, he referred to the issue of lifting sanctions, stating, "The negotiation process is underway and that matter is being pursued." He added that the negotiations are confidential and that the negotiating team is working to create suitable conditions for serious movement in the new government before its inauguration. Bagheri Kani's recent statements come as John Kirby, the spokesperson for the National Security Council at the White House, responded a few days earlier, on July 8, to the question of whether the U.S. is ready to resume nuclear negotiations with the new president of Iran, stating: "No." Ali Bagheri Kani, in a television program, mentioned that John Kirby referred to the election of Masoud Pezeshkian as the new president of Iran, saying: "We must see what he will do, but we do not expect a change in Iran's behavior." The White House rejected the resumption of nuclear negotiations after the Iranian elections. During his election campaign, Masoud Pezeshkian emphasized that without the revival of the JCPOA and the lifting of sanctions, it is impossible to overcome the economic problems plaguing society, and he explicitly criticized the parliament for passing a law that has complicated the revival of the nuclear agreement. However, in one of the debates with Saeed Jalili, he stated that the condition for Iran's return to the JCPOA is the fulfillment of U.S. commitments. Yet, in the days when the new president's focus is on supporting the Islamic Republic's proxy groups in the region, Mr. Pezeshkian has not made any new comments regarding the revival of the nuclear agreement and has not reacted to the U.S. position on the unwillingness to resume negotiations. Since the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA during Donald Trump's presidency in 1398, this important agreement, aimed at limiting the Islamic Republic's nuclear activities in exchange for lifting some sanctions against Iran, has collapsed. Bagheri Kani also mentioned that the Islamic Republic and Western parties have had "intensive" negotiations over the past three years, except for a "pause" in the fall and winter of 1400 due to the Ukraine war. According to him, "The agreement was supposed to be signed after the U.S. congressional elections, which will be in mid-November 1401, among the foreign ministers of the 1+4 countries. However, the unrest that occurred in the fall of 1401 in some areas of the country misled Western countries, especially the Europeans, and they mistakenly tried to delay the finalization of the agreement process." Bagheri claimed that Western parties, when they saw that they had not achieved any tangible results they desired, re-entered the negotiation process. His reference to "unrest" pertains to the widespread protests following the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini in the custody of the morality police, which swept across Iran and faced one of the most violent government crackdowns. Increasing Western sanctions against the Islamic Republic due to nuclear activities, missile programs, and the regime's regional interventions have had a severe impact on Iran's economy. These sanctions are among the most significant points of contention between the two main political factions within the Iranian government.