Zarif: Selecting Parts of the Additional Protocol is Absolutely Impossible

While some members of the Iranian parliament have spoken about accepting the Additional Protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) with the condition of excluding access to military sites and interviews with nuclear scientists, Iran's Foreign Minister says that 'selecting' certain sections of this protocol is 'absolutely' impossible. Mohammad Javad Zarif emphasized in an interview published in the Saturday, June 6, issue of Etemad newspaper that 'our understanding from the beginning of the negotiations has been that the Additional Protocol must exist as one of the pillars of the agreement.' Zarif stated, 'It is absolutely impossible for us to select parts of the protocol. Just as if you have this authority, your counterparts will also have the authority to take similar actions.' He further clarified, 'It is not the case that only Iran has security considerations and concerns about the leakage of its secrets.' According to the Iranian foreign minister, industrial secrets are part of the nuclear program of 'many countries,' and 'they are also doing their work by accepting the Additional Protocol.' In recent weeks, the issue of access to Iran's military sites based on the Additional Protocol in the NPT and interviews with Iranian nuclear scientists to resolve 'remaining issues' between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency has led to a wave of confrontations between the nuclear negotiating team and their opponents in Iran. Previously, Aladdin Boroujerdi, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament, emphasized that even if the Additional Protocol is approved by the Iranian parliament, visits to military sites and interviews with nuclear scientists will be 'excluded' from the implementation of this protocol. A day before Zarif's remarks, Masoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, emphasized that even 'limited and controlled' visits to Iran's military sites would not be allowed. Meanwhile, members of the Iranian negotiating team have repeatedly spoken about 'managed access' to Iran's military sites based on the Additional Protocol. 'Sometimes others have felt that I have been interrogated,' Zarif said in another part of his remarks regarding the opposition to Iran's nuclear negotiations with the P5+1 group, stating that 'I am surprised by some behaviors.' He emphasized that 'some statements' strengthen the positions of the opposing side from 'three very important dimensions: discursive, operational, and negotiating.' In response to the question of whether he has ever felt interrogated, he said, 'Sometimes others have felt that I have been interrogated.' He clarified regarding his television interview after the Lausanne agreement that 'in that interview, some had that feeling and told me.' The Iranian foreign minister continued by saying that Iran's nuclear file is 'somewhat' more complicated than the negotiations of UN Resolution 598 regarding the end of the Iran-Iraq war. He added, 'For this reason, we need a new motion and resolution from the members of the Security Council to lift the sanctions resolutions.' The method of lifting the UN Security Council sanctions is among the contentious issues in the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group. Last week, Reuters reported, citing Western officials, that the P5+1 countries had agreed on the method of reinstating UN sanctions against Iran in the event of a violation of the comprehensive nuclear agreement by Iran. According to Western officials, under this agreement, any potential violation of the final agreement's provisions by Iran will be pursued and assessed by a dispute resolution group that likely includes members of the P5+1 and Iran. The sixth round of negotiations between the two sides for drafting the final agreement on Iran's nuclear program began on Thursday morning in Vienna, Austria's capital. During this round, on Friday, Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran's deputy foreign ministers, held one round of talks with Wendy Sherman, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, and two rounds with Helga Schmid, the Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service. According to the state news agency IRNA, Iran's deputy foreign ministers also met and negotiated bilaterally and multilaterally with their counterparts in the P5+1 countries on Thursday and Friday. Concurrently with the deputy foreign ministers' meeting, expert teams continued drafting the annexes of the final agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program. According to this report, Iran's deputy foreign ministers will leave Vienna on Saturday, but the expert teams, headed by Hamid Baidi-Nejad, the director-general of Iran's Foreign Ministry, and Stefan Clement, an advisor responsible for the EU's foreign policy, will remain in Vienna and continue their work.