Jalili: 100 of Iran's Inalienable Rights Were Waived in the JCPOA Negotiations

Iran's former nuclear negotiator, who is a critic of Hassan Rouhani's nuclear approach, believes that '100 of Iran's inalienable rights' were waived in the drafting of the nuclear agreement and its annexes. Saeed Jalili made this statement during a session of the special parliamentary commission reviewing the JCPOA, asserting that 'the accepted basis of the JCPOA is unacceptable.' Jalili's remarks were reported by Iran's news agency, citing Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the spokesperson for this commission. This session took place on Tuesday, September 6, and Jalili attended alongside Ali Bagheri, a senior member of the previous negotiating team, and Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. Jalili, whose views on nuclear negotiations were so at odds with Rouhani's that some analysts interpreted Rouhani's election victory and Jalili's relatively low votes as a referendum on nuclear policy, reiterated the 'achievements' of his team during the nuclear negotiations and believes that the nuclear agreement (JCPOA) and the related UN Security Council resolution violate the Islamic Republic's red lines. He elaborated that Iran's 'exception' in the JCPOA and the Security Council resolution contradicts the red lines of the Islamic Republic. According to Jalili, by accepting this reference, Iran has accepted to have 'fewer rights in the nuclear field,' has exceptionally accepted 'unconventional inspection regulations,' has accepted 'exceptional verification regulations,' has accepted 'exceptional treatment of nuclear activities,' and has also 'exceptionally' accepted the Additional Protocol. The former nuclear negotiator believes that Iran's implementation of the JCPOA means accepting oversight beyond safeguards and the Additional Protocol, and that 'access, oversight, and unconventional inspections' in the JCPOA contradict the 'established red lines.' A member of the Supreme National Security Council also stated that by accepting the JCPOA, Iranian negotiators have even retreated from 'the rights explicitly stated in the Geneva agreement.' He criticized Security Council Resolution 2231 for the 'possibility of the return of sanctions despite maintaining nuclear restrictions,' the '10-year remaining case of Iran in the Security Council,' and the 'maintenance of restrictions and the possibility of reverting to previous Security Council resolutions.' The negotiating team that Jalili led took over from Ali Larijani in October 2007 after Larijani stepped down as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, but during his tenure, discussions that became known as 'negotiating for negotiation' were repeated without achieving any specific results, and there were several long pauses in negotiations between Iran and the six major powers. During Jalili's tenure, four UN Security Council resolutions were issued against Iran: 1803 (March 2, 2008), 1835 (September 27, 2008), 1887 (September 24, 2009), and 1929 (June 9, 2010). Iran had also been subject to three Security Council resolutions during Larijani's tenure, with the first resolution (1696 - July 31, 2006) being advisory, and the other two (1737 - December 23, 2006, and 1747 - April 24, 2007) being punitive. However, according to Resolution 2231, when Iran took the main steps to resolve its nuclear program, and the Agency concluded that 'all of Iran's nuclear materials are in the direction of peaceful activities,' the seven previous Security Council resolutions related to sanctions against Iran would be lifted. At the same time, the resolution states: 'If one of the parties to the nuclear agreement concludes that Iran has not fulfilled its obligations, it can request the Security Council to vote on the continuation of the lifting of UN sanctions (against Tehran), and if a permanent member vetoes the continuation of the lifting of sanctions, the sanctions will automatically be reinstated within 30 days.'