The Biden administration has noted that it is open to easing sanctions against critical elements of the Iranian economy, including oil and finance, helping to reduce differences in nuclear talks, according to people familiar with the issue.
Despite the progress, senior diplomats warned that there are weeks of difficult negotiations on the 2015 nuclear deal and that progress remains fragile. Talks in Vienna are complicated by Washington and Tehran’s domestic policy and Iran’s refusal to meet directly with the United States.
President Biden wants to return to the 2015 deal after former President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018. The US decision to leave the deal and impose heavy sanctions on Iran caused Tehran to breach many of the restrictions key to the agreement, making a return to the agreement difficult provisions and limits for both parties.
This week, senior Vienna officials ended five days of talks and delegations returned home before resuming negotiations next week. People taking part in the talks say that progress has come as the United States presented more clearly the outlines of the sanctions relief it is willing to provide.
Many of the sanctions imposed under Trump’s tenure by U.S. terrorist authorities and U.S. officials have already said they are willing to raise them. But they have not detailed what sanctions could be eased or which Iranian entities will be affected.
While Iran says it is not trying to build nuclear weapons, a look at its key facilities suggests it could develop the technology to manufacture them. WSJ breaks Tehran’s capabilities by reaching new milestones in uranium enrichment and limits access to inspectors. Photographic illustration: George Downs
Two people familiar with the matter said the United States is open to lifting terrorist sanctions against Iran’s central bank, its national oil and oil companies and several key economic sectors, including steel, aluminum and others. . A senior European official said Washington had also pointed to possible measures to ease sanctions for sectors such as textiles, the automobile, maritime transport and insurance, all industries that had won the Iran in the 2015 agreement.
The lifting of terrorist sanctions against some of these state entities and critical sectors of the economy would act as a significant tonic for the paralyzed economy and represent a large part of the country’s revenue.
U.S. officials in Vienna outlined the types of sanctions relief measures that were being considered, though without offering a detailed proposal, according to people familiar with the issue.
Both sides disagree with Iran’s request that the US lift its sweeping designation of the Iranian elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as a “foreign terrorist organization.” Currently, the U.S. is not considering lifting terrorist sanctions on the IRGC, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The U.S. terrorist list of the office of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is also likely to be controversial, officials said.
While the Biden administration has said it was prepared to lift sanctions imposed by Mr. Trump, officials have also said they reserve the right to withhold some of the actions against Tehran’s support of militant groups and its program. of ballistic missiles.
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said U.S. officials seemed serious in their bid to lift sanctions. But he said Washington needs to go beyond generalities and pinpoint exact details.
“In some steps, we found them serious,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. We should see now. “
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, second from the right, visited an exhibition on Iran’s nuclear achievements in Tehran earlier this month.
Photo:
Office of the Iranian Presidency / Associated Press
Iran reduced compliance with the 2015 deal after the Trump administration withdrew, expanding its uranium enrichment operations. An Iranian official said the return to the nuclear deal would only end 800 new US sanctions and terrorist designations, nearly half of the 1,500 that Iran’s estimates have been imposed on its economic sectors, institutions, companies. and individuals.
Untying Iran’s complex sanctions network is a politically sticky task for Biden’s team. Opposition to a potential deal is growing among Republican critics of the Biden administration. A group of Republican senators is pushing legislation that gives Congress the power to prevent the administration from lifting any of Iran’s sanctions.
Proponents of maintaining sanctions in place say any easing undermines Washington’s leverage to reach a new strengthened deal, which points to Tehran’s available foreign exchange reserves falling to its lowest point in decades. This figure is offset by an increase in Iranian oil exports since the Biden administration took office, with China taking much of the new production amid perceptions that Washington is taking a more lenient approach. to Iran.
Talks have also been made on Iran’s path to compliance with the 2015 agreement, which has been reduced to what to do with its three-ton enriched uranium reserve and what happens to advanced machines that Tehran has installed to generate nuclear fuel faster.
Officials also said Iran had distanced itself in talks from insisting that the US reverse all sanctions imposed since 2015, when the nuclear deal was implemented. Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, told The Wall Street Journal last week that while Tehran’s demand was the end of all sanctions, it was willing to negotiate that demand.
However, Tehran’s hard lines do not publicly agree with Mr Araghchi, establishing an internal tension that worries Western officials. The Anglo-Saxon state press on Tuesday quoted an informed source as saying that Iran did not accept the sequential lifting of sanctions and that Iran should verify any easing of sanctions before responding, which would take up to six months.
The parties to the 2015 agreement, which also includes France, Germany, Russia, China and Britain, have agreed to create a new group to face a central challenge in the negotiations: matching exactly what steps the US should take. and Iran, and when, by lifting sanctions and reversing breaches of the agreement with Iran.
Negotiators also said this week that they have begun drafting texts of possible agreements that could be discussed in the coming sessions.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency and chief negotiator in the talks, told the newspaper that work had begun to draft the steps the two sides should take to restore the agreement. . He said negotiations could be completed by the end of May, when an agreement expires guaranteeing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s continued oversight of Iran’s nuclear activities.
“I don’t think there are insurmountable obstacles to a deal,” he said.
—Sune Engel Rasmussen contributed to this article.
Write to Ian Talley at [email protected], Benoit Faucon at [email protected] and Laurence Norman at [email protected]
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