Nuclear projects and international escalation: Iran anticipates negotiations with new provocations

Eslam Mohamed

With the start of negotiations on returning to the Iranian nuclear agreement, which began in Vienna on Tuesday, April 6, Tehran continued to escalate the nuclear project in the context of exerting pressure on Washington during the negotiations.

The talks include the United States, Iran, Russia, China and the European Community, and US special envoy to Iran Robert Malley considered that Tehran’s insistence on lifting sanctions before returning to its commitments reflects its lack of seriousness in returning to the nuclear agreement that was signed with the West in 2015, adding that his country is seeking a more comprehensive and longer-term agreement to cover all Iran’s nuclear and regional activities.

Malley also explained in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), “We have concerns about the Iranian ballistic missile program and their activities in the region,” adding, “We want to talk about all of that, but it is better to talk about these matters after we can at least put the current nuclear issue aside and not worry about it daily.”

No optimism, no pessimism

“It is not necessary to reach an agreement on nuclear before the date of the Iranian presidential elections, because we will talk with any party that will be in power,” Malley continued.

In response, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said that Tehran is neither optimistic nor pessimistic about the outcome of the nuclear talks, but it is confident that it is on the right track to revive the 2015 agreement.

Rabiei added, “If America proves that it has the will, seriousness and honesty, that could be a positive indication for a better future for this agreement and its full implementation at the end of the day.”

“Today we are witnessing new steps in the process of reviving the nuclear agreement,” Rabiei continued, considering that there is no choice but to revive the agreement and return all parties to their commitments, pointing to his confidence in the end of the unilateral sanctions.

According to media reports, the Iranian opposition attacked Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on the sidelines of the Vienna summit while he was leaving the venue after meeting Enrique Mora, the EU coordinator and chairman of the Joint Commission on the nuclear deal, although police intervened.

In another context, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) spokesman Behrooz Kamalvandi announced on Tuesday that Tehran had begun experiments on advanced ninth-generation IR-9 centrifuges for the first time.

Nuclear projects

In a dangerous escalation in the nuclear file, Kamalvandi said that 133 advanced achievements in the field of the nuclear industry will be revealed next Friday, on the occasion of Iran’s National Nuclear Technology Day, with the participation of President Hassan Rouhani. The president will also inaugurate 12 projects via video conference in various nuclear fields, including laser, nuclear medicine and uranium enrichment.

In turn, the Iranian government spokesman said that six sets of IR2M centrifuges have been installed so far in the Iranian underground Natanz reactor.