Zarif Publishes Iran's Demands from the U.S.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, has responded to the twelve conditions set by Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State, and outlined a list of Tehran's demands from Washington. Iranian news agencies published the Persian and English texts of this article on Wednesday, June 19. According to Tasnim, Zarif wrote in part: "While the U.S. Secretary of State sets conditions for negotiation and understanding with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the international community has serious doubts about the very possibility of negotiation and understanding with the current U.S. government on any issue." Following the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, the JCPOA, on May 22 of this year, Pompeo set twelve conditions for reaching a new agreement with Iran. He stated that the U.S. would impose "the toughest sanctions in history against Iran, and if the Iranian government does not change its behavior, the pressure of sanctions will increase." In response, Zarif wrote: "How can a government that has violated the JCPOA, which is the result of hundreds of hours of bilateral and multilateral negotiations involving the highest U.S. officials and has been turned into an international commitment under Article 25 of the UN Charter by the UN Security Council, of which the U.S. is a permanent member, expect to negotiate again with that government?" Zarif presented fifteen demands from the U.S. government, asking it to acknowledge what he called Washington's past mistakes. Ending the breach of the JCPOA and compensating for damages related to its violation, respecting Iran's independence and sovereignty, ending what has been termed an aggressive economic policy against the Iranian people, stopping U.S. support for Israel, and honoring commitments in international relations are among the demands Zarif has made of his American counterpart. While Zarif has criticized the Trump administration's approach toward Iran, Pompeo had previously stated that the goal of the new strategy regarding Iran is not regime change but changing the behavior of its leaders. In explaining the U.S. demands from Iran, Pompeo said: "The twelve items I listed are all very clear and specific. We do not want much from Iran's leadership. We just want them to act like normal leaders. Do not plunder your people; do not waste your people's money on these adventures in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, etc." The U.S. Secretary of State also emphasized: "We have asked them to stop the spread of terrorism worldwide; not to form militia groups in Iraq; not to send dollars and Iranian citizens – citizens who are being killed in Syria. This is bad for both Middle Eastern security and for Iran. We want to create conditions for Iran to behave like a normal country." The twelve demands of the U.S. Secretary of State were welcomed by several U.S. allies, including the governments of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, while some other U.S. allies expressed criticisms or doubts about them. On May 8, Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran, emphasizing that the JCPOA "brought neither peace nor calm" and that the Islamic Republic continued to expand its ballistic missile program and "support for terrorism" after the JCPOA. Europeans, who seek to preserve the JCPOA, have also joined the U.S. in criticizing Iran's ballistic missile program and its "interventions" and "destabilizing actions" in the region.