欧美文化:What does Washington's sanctions waiver mean for Vienna talks?

TEHRAN, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Tehran said Saturday that Washington's move to restore sanctions waivers was "good but not enough," while the Vienna talks, which were initiated about 10 months ago to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, have now reached a crucial stage.

Washington on Friday announced it was waiving sanctions on Iran's civilian nuclear program, which allows international nuclear cooperation projects.

"NOT A CONCESSION"

Friday's step "is neither a concession to Iran," nor "a signal that we are about to reach an understanding on a mutual return to full implementation" of the nuclear deal, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a senior State Department official was quoted by U.S. media as saying.

The sanctions waiver "is designed to facilitate discussions that would help to close a deal on a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA and lay the groundwork for Iran's return to the performance of its JCPOA commitments," the U.S. State Department said in its report to Congress, adding it is also designed to "constrain Iran's nuclear activities."

"Absent this sanctions waiver, detailed technical discussions with third parties regarding the disposition of stockpiles and other activities of noNPRoliferation value cannot take place," the U.S. State Department official added.

By the same token, "we did not provide sanctions relief for Iran and will not until/unless Tehran returns to its commitments under the JCPOA," U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price tweeted.

Such a step aims to "permit our international partners to address growing nuclear noNPRoliferation and safety risks in Iran," Price added.

They made the remarks as critics of the nuclear deal, which the United States quit in 2018 under its former President Donald Trump, voiced against the decision made by his successor Joe Biden.

"These waivers should be opposed on the merits, not just their signal of complete desperation and weakness," tweeted Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser to the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.

"NOT ENOUGH"

Assal Rad, a senior research fellow at the National Iranian American Council, however, said as people who pushed Trump's failed policy start yelling that this is a "concession" to Iran, remember "the sanctions crushing its economy are still in place."

Also, the United States "has done absolutely nothing to end 'maximum pressure' sanctions targeting innocent citizens," said Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran.

"While preserving Iran's rights, any deal must comprehensively & verifiably remove all of the barbaric sanctions & credible assurances must also be provided," he tweeted.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Saturday that Iran, via intermediaries, has made clear to the American side that they must show their "good faith in action" in the Vienna nuclear negotiations.

"Good faith in practice, in our view, means something tangible happening on the ground, and the lifting of some of the sanctions could be considered as goodwill that the Americans are talking about," Amir Abdollahian said in response to Washington's latest move.

"What happens on paper is good, but not enough," he added.

"The news we hear today is about a dimension of lifting nuclear sanction, and everyone knows that this is not enough," Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Saturday, adding that the United States needs to "lift all sanctions, including the nuclear ones."

"RIGHT DIRECTION"

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said the U.S. waiver decision was "a move in the right direction."

"It will help expedite restoration of JCPOA and mutual return of U.S. and Iran to compliance with 2015 deal. It also can be seen as an indication that the Vienna talks have entered the final stage," Ulyanov, also head of Russia's delegation to the nuclear negotiations, wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Rad also said that "these waivers let other countries work on Iran's civil nuclear program, a step that helps bring it back to compliance."

However, "the suspension of several nuclear sanctions, which will have no economic impact, is more the beginning of a new blame game, than a sign of U.S. goodwill," Nour News, a website close to Iran's Supreme National Security Council, wrote on Saturday.

While the progress of the negotiations is "tied to the U.S. political decision-making, the show is merely a move to ease pressure on Washington and pursue a blame game," it warned.

As has been agreed by various parties, progress has accelerated in less complex issues of dispute, yet disagreement on thorny matters, like guarantees and verification measures, still remains.

"Political decisions are needed now," Enrique Mora, the European Union's coordinator in the negotiations, has said recently.

To move the negotiations forward, Ali Vaez, an Iran expert at the International Crisis Group, has highlighted "a need for more flexibility on both sides," and suggested the United States "go first."