Velayati's Reaction to Jalili's Claim on Resolving Nuclear Issues in Almaty

Ali Akbar Velayati, international advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, recently reacted to statements made by Saeed Jalili regarding the nuclear negotiations, reminding that if the issues had been resolved in Almaty as claimed, "it should not have taken this long." Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator and critic of the nuclear agreement, claims that when his team was pursuing the negotiations, the West recognized Iran's right to enrichment by retreating from their positions and offered concessions to limit the percentage of enrichment. Statements from Jalili's multiple appearances in the special commission on the JCPOA indicate that he believes the Western powers were willing to secure what had been achieved through the JCPOA in the Almaty negotiations without demanding any specific concessions from Iran. He, who believes that "100 legitimate rights of the Islamic Republic have been disregarded" in the design of the nuclear agreement and the resolution that supports it, has emphasized recently that "in Almaty 1, new retreats occurred from the West, and discussions on the percentage of enrichment began. This means that the nuclear right was accepted and now discussions were taking place on the percentage of enrichment. The West wanted to limit our enrichment percentage by offering concessions, and for this reason, they presented 16 proposals." Jalili's statements have faced reactions from several officials involved in or knowledgeable about the nuclear negotiations, and in the latest response, Velayati answered reporters' questions about whether the issues were resolved in Almaty as claimed, stating: "If it had been resolved, it should not have taken this long." Velayati's new response to Jalili's statements was published by the IRNA news agency on Tuesday, September 24. Velayati had previously reacted to Jalili's statements and his negotiating team in one of the JCPOA review commission meetings, stating that "their opinions are the result of their own investigations, and ultimately the group formed in the parliament is for a thorough review of this issue at the right time." In response to the "accusation" from the previous negotiating team, Velayati also denied the claim by Jalili's colleagues that he "prevented the publication and media coverage of the Almaty negotiations against the wishes of Ayatollah Khamenei," calling it an "accusation" from the former negotiating team. Earlier, in one of the JCPOA commission meetings, Hossein Najabat, a representative from Tehran and a member of this commission, recalled from Jalili and his deputy Ali Baqeri that after presenting the report of the meeting between Iran and the six global powers in Almaty to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei requested public information on this matter, but Velayati stated that "it is not customary to inform the public about diplomatic discussions." The international advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, however, denied the issue and stated that "I have never opposed the decision of the Supreme Leader, and this is an accusation." Velayati, however, did not confirm whether the Supreme Leader had requested public dissemination of the negotiation results at the time the Almaty report was presented. Meanwhile, discussions raised in this regard in the JCPOA commission clarify that after the Almaty meeting, two separate reports were presented to the Supreme Leader, one from Saeed Jalili and the then-negotiating team, and one from Ali Akbar Velayati based on findings from reports by figures like Abbas Araghchi and other sources. In one of the JCPOA commission meetings, Jalili claimed that after presenting the Almaty talks report, Ayatollah Khamenei wrote under the received report, "Where does he (Velayati) say this? This is false." This is a subject that Velayati has remained silent about. However, following the discussion of these issues in the JCPOA commission, Abbas Araghchi revealed that the dispute between Saeed Jalili and Ali Akbar Velayati in the 2013 presidential election debates relates to the Almaty report. During the third debate of the presidential candidates in 2013, Velayati severely criticized Jalili's performance in the nuclear negotiations with the 5+1 group, stating that "diplomacy is not about going to another country and delivering a speech." Velayati stated that "in Almaty 2, they [the six global powers] made proposals that could have been progressed, but Jalili did not accept. They said to suspend 20% enrichment and slow down Fordow, and we will lift three sanctions. In response to them [the negotiating team], they said we will do these things, you lift all sanctions." He added, "My point is that we should move step by step. What they did showed that they did not want to make progress. Conservatism is not inflexibility. In relation to national interests, we must be able to use diplomacy in the best way. Diplomacy is about negotiation and interaction. It is not about showing stubbornness. Diplomacy is not about reading statements at the table. If it were not like this, we would not have ended up in this situation." Velayati also responded to Jalili's comment that only one resolution has been issued since 2008 and they could not reach further consensus by saying, "Mr. Jalili, this is not a philosophy class. You have been in charge for several years and have made no progress; rather, problems have increased." Other reactions to Jalili's statements include Hassan Abutorabi-Fard, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who addressed him in a meeting of the JCPOA commission, stating that "we have repeatedly invited you to participate in the Security Commission, but you have only attended once. If you had allowed discussions to take place, the approval of Resolution 1929 might have been delayed or not approved at all." He added that "if critical reviews had been conducted at the time when three resolutions were passed, we could have helped the role of the government, which had a deterrent role." Behrouz Namati, another member of Parliament, also stated that "Mr. Jalili had the most presence and opportunity compared to other Iranian negotiators but could not utilize his opportunities, while at least in Almaty, he could have achieved good results." Namati noted that "at least in the three years I have been in Parliament, Mr. Jalili did not provide a written report of the actions taken in the negotiations and only provided a brief report in one session, which was also in a non-public meeting." Ahmad Shohani, a member of the Foreign Policy Commission of Parliament, also told the House of Parliament that "all Security Council and EU sanctions were passed during Saeed Jalili's negotiations, and if we had negotiated logically and correctly, we could have disarmed the other side and avoided sanctions." The negotiating team led by Saeed Jalili took over from Ali Larijani in October 2007 after his resignation from the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and was responsible for pursuing Iran's nuclear negotiations. However, during Jalili's tenure, discussions that became known as "negotiating for negotiation" were repeated without achieving any specific results, and during this time, there were several long pauses in the negotiations between Iran and the six global powers. During Saeed Jalili's tenure in the nuclear file, four sanction resolutions were issued by the UN Security Council against Iran: Resolution 1803 (March 2, 2008), Resolution 1835 (September 27, 2008), Resolution 1887 (September 30, 2009), and Resolution 1929 (June 9, 2010). Iran had previously also been subject to three Security Council resolutions during Ali Larijani's tenure in the nuclear negotiations, with the first resolution (1696 - August 1, 2006) being advisory, while the other two resolutions (1737 - December 23, 2006, and 1747 - March 24, 2007) were sanction-based.