Onus on US to show good faith on pact, experts say

As parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal attempt to resuscitate the agreement for the seventh time, experts said it is the United States that should take the first step in showing its sincerity to rejoining the pact.

They also said any idea to bring in additional negotiators, other than signatories to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, would not have much positive impact but could instead run the risk of escalating tensions.

"Iran and the P5+1 have already signed the JCPOA since 2015, and the deal is still on the table," said Dina Yulianti Sulaeman, director of the Indonesia Center for Middle East Studies, to China Daily. "The US is the one which left the agreement and did not fulfill its obligations under the JCPOA. The US even (imposed) sanctions on Iran."

In 2015, Iran entered into a deal with the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council－China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the US－plus Germany, known as the "P5+1". But former US president Donald Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018 as he thought it was too soft on Teheran and later imposed sanctions on Iran.

The parties, except for the US, returned to Vienna for talks on Nov 29. The talks were adjourned on Dec 3 after Western diplomats sought consultation with their capitals and accused Iran of backtracking on the progress made in the negotiations.

"The JCPOA is the result of long negotiations. It is already the best option in the parties' view, so it should not be undermined by adding participants who have been confirmed to only make the crisis protracted," Sulaeman said.

Concrete guarantee

Arhama Siddiqa, research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, said the US should take the first step to show some goodwill as it was the one which left the deal. She also said the US must hold itself accountable for unilaterally withdrawing from the pact.

"Iran needs a concrete guarantee that the US will not back out now, as it wills, (and) as it chooses to," she said.

She also noted that the sanctions have hurt Iran predominantly in the health sector, as the country suffered from one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the Middle East.

Asif Shuja, senior research fellow in the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, said whoever shows good gesture first is not an issue. He said that if a deal is agreed, Iran could possibly take the first step.

In a televised address on Sunday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated that his government was "vigorously working on the issue of removal of anti-Iran sanctions".

Sulaeman said Raisi wants to convey to the Iranian public that his administration's stance in the nuclear negotiations is to eliminate sanctions.

"He had to emphasize this because the biggest hope of the Iranian people is the elimination of various sanctions, so that the economic burden can be removed," Sulaeman said.

In October, the UN Human Rights Council released a statement saying an "overcompliance" with the US-imposed sanctions against Iran is harming the country's right to health.

Xinhua contributed to this story.