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Politics

Doha Summit: US and Iran Contradict on the JCPOA as Foreign Minister Recovers from TV Gaffe

March 28, 2022
IranWire
2 min read
US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley and Iranian advisor to the Supreme Leader Kamal Kharazi gave mixed messages on Sunday on whether a nuclear deal was "imminent"
US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley and Iranian advisor to the Supreme Leader Kamal Kharazi gave mixed messages on Sunday on whether a nuclear deal was "imminent"
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was also present in Qatar a day after he was criticized inside Iran for suggesting the IRGC had accepted its continued status as a designated terror entity
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was also present in Qatar a day after he was criticized inside Iran for suggesting the IRGC had accepted its continued status as a designated terror entity

Senior officials from Iran and the United States appeared to contradict each other on Sunday on whether or not a nuclear deal is close at hand.

US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley told those present in Qatar that he was not confident a return to the JCPOA – or something like it – was imminent. “It’s not just around the corner and it’s not inevitable,” he said.

Without discussing the details at length, Malley also said that America had failed to secure an augmented version of the deal that would restrict the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missiles program and curb its military presence in neighboring countries. “It would have been better,” he said. “But [the deal] wasn’t able to address the other issues.”

However, Malley did stress that whether or not the IRGC remains blacklisted as a terrorist entity, it will still be subject to sanctions under US law because of human rights violations and missile development. He added: “Our perception of the IRGC will remain.”

The comments came hours after Kamal Kharazi, head of Iran’s Strategic Council for Foreign Relations and an advisor to the Supreme Leader, told delegates at the Doha Forum: “Yes, it’s imminent.” But he then qualified it by saying: “It depends on the political view of the US.”

In his speech at the Middle East policy conference, Kharazi described the IRGC as a “national army” and said it was imperative that the terror designation be removed. He also said that Iran sorely needed “normal” economic relations with other countries.

On the sidelines of the same event, EU diplomat Enrique Mora met with Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani. Scant details have emerged about what was said.

On Saturday, however, Amir Abdollahian had been forced to row back on remarks he had made to Iranian state TV about the status of the IRGC in US law. In a comment that inflamed hardliners inside Iran, he said the Guards had “accepted” that the terror designation might need to stay in place “for the interests of the country”.

The foreign minister was sharply rebuked by Hossein Shariatmadari, the Supreme Leader-appointed editor of ultraconservative daily Kayhan, who called the remarks “unexpected and strange”. He went on to tell Fars News Agency that Amir Abdollahian’s notion of an IRGC “surrender” was ill-founded: “Attributing this statement to Guard commanders does not correspond to any of their well-known characteristics”.

In an Instagram post, Amir Abdollahian said his comments had been “misinterpreted” and promised he had not backed down from any of the regime’s “red lines.”

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