Nuclear agreement: the big powers present their copy to Iran

Vienna – Europeans, Russia and China, eager to make concrete proposals to ensure the survival of the nuclear deal, are at the bottom of the wall Friday in Vienna where they meet with Iranian officials who have posed their conditions to maintain the pact.
  

The pressure is great on the foreign ministers of the five remaining powers to the agreement (Germany, China, France, United Kingdom, Russia): a few hours before the meeting, Iranian President Hbadan Rohani know that the offer of Europeans to offset the effects of the withdrawal of Washington was not satisfactory at this stage.

The package of measures " does not meet all the requirements of the Islamic Republic ," Rohani told French President Emmanuel Macron during a telephone conversation, according to the news agency iranian official Irna Thursday night.

These measures will be at the heart of the talks planned for 09:00 GMT between the head of Iranian diplomacy Mohammad Javad Zarif and his counterparts in Vienna, where the historic agreement of 2015 was signed.

Tehran does not hide his impatience. " The time of the negotiations comes to an end ," warned the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani, at the beginning of June, urging Europe to " pronounce itself explicitly and quickly ".

Iran is trying to get European countries economic compensation for the disastrous disengagement of the United States who denounced the agreement in early May. Tehran has repeatedly threatened to resume uranium enrichment.

The historic pact of 2015 puts Iran under strict control of its nuclear activities aimed at preventing the country from gaining access to nuclear weapons. The counterpart of the agreement for Iran was the lifting of international economic sanctions with the prospect of new investments.

But since the US government of Donald Trump denounced the text validated by the UN, the prospect of the return of US sanctions began to scare away foreign investors.

Friday's meeting should give " impetus " to protect the interests of economic actors, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

– Countdown –

" I am sure that tomorrow we will send a united and determined signal to the world (…) ," said Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs late Thursday in Vienna foreign Wang Yi.

In his list of conditions presented at the end of May, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asked the remaining signatories for a guarantee on Iranian oil sales and commercial transactions.

So far most major European financial institutions have been reluctant to guarantee trade with Iran for fear of sanctions in the United States where they are highly exposed.

Europe finds itself under double pressure, that of Tehran, which needs foreign investment to boost its economy, and that of Washington, which could attack its businesses.

The European Commission launched in May the process of the so-called " Blocking Act " aimed at countering the effects of US sanctions on European companies wanting to invest in Iran. But its effects are uncertain.

Sign of the emergency, while the first US sanctions must be reimposed in early August, the Iranian president was in Geneva and Vienna this week where he pleaded for the safeguarding of the agreement.

Rohani's visit to Europe was overshadowed by the recent arrest of a diplomat at the Iranian embbady in Vienna, suspected of being involved in a planned attack in France.

" As long as it is possible for Iran, we will remain party to the agreement, we will not leave the JCPOA (the official acronym of the agreement, ed), provided that we can also enjoy it "said Mr. Rohani, moderate conservative re-elected in 2017.

" Iran's nuclear activities have always had only a peaceful purpose ", but " Iran decides its level of cooperation with the IAEA ", he warned, according to Irna, in an interview with Yukiya Amano, head of the agency United Nations Atomic Energy Agency to ensure compliance with Tehran's commitments on its nuclear activities.