[ad_1]
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his country will not accept a change in the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal, and that the deal will not include new parties, while the United States said it is too early to accept Tehran’s proposal. by the European Union to reactivate the agreement from which Washington withdrew in 2018 and Tehran reduced its obligations mentioned in it.
In his speech at the cabinet meeting, the Iranian president added that his country would welcome the return of the United States to the agreement and that if it does not intend to return, it should announce it.
He said: “If we see practical action from Washington and we witness any step toward a comprehensive commitment to the promises, we will take a similar step.”
He added that “Iran will not change an article of the nuclear agreement, and that the agreement will not include other parties, and this is our final position and it will not change.”
He noted that the United States has violated Security Council Resolution 2231 and has no right to set conditions, and that it must comply with the agreement and lift sanctions so that Tehran can meet its obligations.
No direct contacts
In a related context, Mahmoud Vaezi, director of the Iranian president’s office, said that his country has no direct contacts with the administration of US President Joe Biden, and that the European side has recently become very active in coordinating between Iran and U.S. States to reactivate the nuclear agreement.
And my preacher attributed this European diplomatic activity to the assumption of power in the White House by a new administration.
‘Legal victory’
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif considered that his country had achieved a “legal victory” after the International Court of Justice announced that it was empowered to consider the economic sanctions that former US President Donald Trump imposed on Tehran.
Zarif wrote on Twitter that the Hague-based court had “rejected all initial US objections in the case, which Iran filed in the context of illegal US sanctions.”
He considered that the Islamic Republic achieved “another legal victory through this after the order of October 3, 2018”, referring to an order issued by the court on that date, according to which it asked Washington to lift the sanctions that they affected goods “for humanitarian purposes”.
Iran filed a complaint with the Court of Justice in 2018, alleging that the United States, through sanctions, violated a friendship treaty signed in 1955 between that country and Iran, which was then under the rule of the Shah.
Washington, which unilaterally annulled the treaty after the complaint, considered that the court was not authorized to hear the case, so it should abandon it, and that the sanctions were necessary because Iran represents a “serious threat” to international security.
However, the court confirmed today that it is competent to hear the matter. Its president, Abdul Qawi Ahmed Youssef, said the court “has jurisdiction … to consider the request made by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The final verdict in this case can take months or even a few years.
Zarif believed that Iran “has always fully respected international law” and that the time has come for the United States to respect its “international obligations.”
American apathy
On Tuesday, the United States responded lukewarmly to an Iranian proposal that includes Washington and Tehran taking simultaneous steps to return to the nuclear deal, saying there are still steps to be taken before the United States begins to speak to the Iranians or accept their proposals. .
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said his country believes it is too early to accept Tehran’s proposal that the European Union intervene to reactivate the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.
He said close consultations with Britain, Germany, France and the European High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, are necessary to persuade Iran to return to compliance with the nuclear deal and to address a number of troubling issues. . to Tehran.
He added that the United States is consulting with Europeans and other parties – it did not name them – on the processing of this file.
An Israeli persecution in Washington
Meanwhile, Israeli media sources said that the head of the Israeli intelligence service “Mossad”, Yossi Cohen, will travel to the United States in the coming weeks and present intelligence information to the Biden administration, in an attempt to prevent him from returning. . to the nuclear deal.
Furthermore, Israeli Settlement Affairs Minister Tzahi Hanegbi said that “Israel will have to decide whether to launch such an attack on its own or to reconcile with a nuclear-armed Islamic republic.”
He told the Israeli Kan Channel: “The United States will never attack the nuclear facilities in Iran.”
He added that “Israel has to decide whether to accept a nuclear Iran,” noting that “Israel will have to work independently to eliminate this danger.”
On his future outlook on this issue, Hanegbi explained: “There may be no other option in the future (except to attack Iran militarily) … I hope that when our leadership faces this dilemma, it will not accept it (a nuclear-armed Iran ) “.
He noted that the Iranians have shown that they have a “very limited” ability to exact revenge on Israel.
Leaving the aircraft carrier
On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz had left the Gulf after spending several months in its waters, in a move that appeared to reflect the new US administration’s desire to ease tensions with Iran.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said: “The” Nimitz “carrier strike group has sailed from the area of responsibility of the Central Command” responsible for the entire Middle East, bound for the region under the command of India and the Peaceful. Oceans (Indo-Pakom) “.
Kirby added that the decisions of the US Secretary of Defense are based on assessing the threats in the Middle East region.
