The United States Department of Treasury (USDT) issued a statement on Monday to add six foreign companies related to Iran’s oil and petrochemical industry to its list of sanctions.
This is the third package of sanctions that the US imposed on Iran’s oil sector since March 2022, exactly when the talks in Vienna, Austria, to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and lift anti-Iran sanctions ended up in a deadlock because of Americans’ hesitance and excessive demands.
Around two weeks ago, the US imposed another sanction package on two individuals, 13 companies, and two tankers related to Iran.
However, the third US sanction package has been imposed even less than one day after European Union’s High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that he proposed a new draft to revive the nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Borrell acknowledged that the United States’ maximum pressure against Iran is doomed to failure, so adoption of decisions is needed to take the unique opportunity because there is no other effective or comprehensive option than the JCPOA.
But the US is of the opinion that Borrell’s proposal is mostly the same consensus that has been on the table since March. Ned Price, the spokesman for the US Department of State, tried to claim that the ball is in Iran’s court in respect of returning to the JPCOA, and put the blame for the recent situation of Vienna talks on the shoulders of the Iranians.
Some officials from the European trio (Britain, France, and Germany) also adopted anti-Iran stances and attempted to claim that Tehran is responsible for the current status of the talks for resuming the nuclear deal.
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani emphasized that the most important condition for the United States’ return to the agreement is the removal of illegal and cruel sanctions.
In response to Borrell’s proposal, Bagheri Kani noted that the Islamic Republic has provided other negotiating teams with its suggestions in order to find a way out of the complicated situation.
Iran is ready to conclude the nuclear talks in a short time if the other sides are being prepared as well, the Iranian negotiator added.
On Monday morning, there were some speculations about resuming talks in the near future, but Washington imposed new sanctions, indicating that the White House is insisting on its bullying policy and cannot tolerate diplomatic logic.
The Iranian authorities have repeatedly announced that the main objective of the negotiations is removing illegal and inhuman sanctions imposed by the US on Iranians, but the Biden administration has shown that they are not keen on making amends for their harmful and wrong policies.
Thus, Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Monday that the AEOI staff have been ordered to launch and inject gas to hundreds of centrifuges including IR1 and IR6 advanced machines.
The official added that the order also aims to fulfill the target of enrichment using 190,000 separative work units (SWUs), which is the least amount that the country needs.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that Tehran will show its firm and strong reaction to Washington’s insistence on imposing sanctions on Iranians.
He confirmed that Iran has received EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s proposal to resume talks and said that the recent telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi was partly triggered by this proposal.
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