Iran's president-elect says ready for 'any kind of dialog' for sanctions relief

The Islamic Republic is prepared for nuclear negotiations with world powers to have sanctions lifted, Iran's president-elect said, a couple of weeks after the White House made it clear that there is no diplomatic path ahead to curb Iran's move toward acquiring a nuclear weapon.

White House National Security spokesman John Kirby told Iran International on July 11 the Biden administration is committed to making sure Tehran would never develop nuclear weapons. "We'd love to be able to do that through diplomacy. But right now, there's not a path, a diplomatic path ahead of us."

Still, Iran's president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has always been and remains ready for any kind of dialogue" on the removal of sanctions imposed against the country, even though "it was the US that first withdrew from the JCPOA and then imposed the harshest sanctions on the Iranian nation."

Former US President Donald Trump in 2018 imposed crippling sanctions against the Islamic Republic after withdrawing from the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a nuclear deal that had curbed Tehran's nuclear program in return for some sanctions relief.

Various sanctions have since been enforced against Iran because of its nuclear weapons program and support for terrorist groups, but Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his loyalists have been reluctant to acknowledge the strain caused to the economy. Instead, they claim the sanctions are opportunities for growth and development and could foster national unity.

Now Iran is apparently hopeful that with the election of Pezeshkian, presented as a “reformist,” nuclear talks would resume leading to some reduction in US sanctions that have crippled the economy.

Pezeshkian made the comments in a phone conversation with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose country tried to mediate between Tehran and Washington in 2019 during former prime minister Shinzo Abe's trip to Iran.

The Monday phone call may suggest a renewed interest on Tokyo's side to act as a mediator.

The Japanese foreign ministry's readout of Kishida's phone call with Pezeshkian confirms the two leaders have exchanged views on Iran's nuclear program, but only says, "The two leaders discussed the situation regarding the Iran nuclear issue and agreed to maintain communication."

However, Iranian state-run media claim that the Japanese prime minister "expressed his country’s readiness to mediate between Iran and the US in the talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal."

Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri-Kani in a visit to New York earlier this month lauded the purported new foreign policy direction under President-elect Pezeshkian.

"We believe that now it is the turn and time of the other side to prove this honesty for interaction and, of course, to open a new chapter," Bagheri Kani said in an interview with Newsweek, fueling speculations that Pezeshkian's election victory might be part of the Islamic Republic's plan to restore the 2015 nuclear deal and end the crippling sanctions that have plagued the country for years.

In his interview with Newsweek, Bagheri Kani said that Tehran remained open to resuming negotiations with Washington toward restoring mutual participation in a nuclear deal.

He made the comments one week after claiming that nuclear talks with the US are ongoing through indirect negotiations mediated by Oman. The claim was categorically rejected by the White House national security spokesman.

"I won't speak or can't speak to channels of communication with Iran one way or the other, but there are no active negotiations going on to restore the nuclear deal. The reason for that is because Iran was killing its own people in protests activity. Iran was continuing to spin centrifuges. Iran was continuing to support terrorist groups. And in the early stages of the negotiations, Iran was making unnecessary demands that made it impossible for us to do that. They weren't negotiating in good faith," Kirby told Iran International.

Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned about Iran’s nuclear activities, raising concerns about the program's peacefulness. The IAEA reported that Iran has stockpiled large amounts of highly enriched uranium, with Raphael Grossi saying that Iran is "weeks not months" from a nuclear weapon.