Iran Calls for New Nuclear Talks Amid Worsening Middle East Crisis

Iran has issued an appeal for new negotiations toward reviving a multilateral nuclear agreement against the backdrop of deepening geopolitical tensions and worsening unrest across the Middle East.

The appeal came Monday in the form of a statement addressed to the president of the United Nations Security Council, currently held by South Korean Permanent Representative Joonkook Hwang, and shared with Newsweek by the Iranian Mission to the U.N.

In the statement, Iranian Permanent Representative Amir Saied Iravani criticized recent comments from the U.S. and European powers that have all expressed concern over Tehran's decision to double down on nuclear activities amid ongoing Western sanctions in place since Washington pulled out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018. Iravani acknowledged that the JCPOA "was not perfect," but asserted that "it remains the most viable option."

"Mr. President, let me be clear: pressure, intimidation, threat, and confrontation are non-starters and will ultimately lead to a dead end," Iravani said. "The only viable option for restoring the JCPOA is sincere dialogue and constructive cooperation."

He argued that Iran remained firmly committed to its policy of "rejecting nuclear weapons" while still "exercising its inherent rights to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes" along with an "unwavering commitment to dialogue and diplomacy."

France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the U.S., on the other hand, have "deliberately disregarded the underlying origin of the current situation," according to Iravani, "that is, first and foremost, the unilateral and unlawful withdrawal of the U.S. from the JCPOA."

The landmark JCPOA reached under then-U.S. President Barack Obama and then-Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, with signatures from China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K. and the European Union as well, lifted international sanctions on Iran in exchange for substantial limits on the nation's nuclear program. The deal was abandoned by then-President Donald Trump, who reintroduced economic restrictions against the Islamic Republic, which began reducing its nuclear commitments a year later.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration returned to the negotiating table in a bid to reinstate full implementation of the agreement upon entering office in 2021. However, talks ultimately unraveled by the end of 2022 and Iran has since continued to step away from the deal, arguing that the measures were justified by the lack of fulfillment of JCPOA commitments on the part of Western signatories.

Meanwhile, worsening tensions in the Middle East have only exacerbated frictions between Washington and Tehran, especially since the outbreak of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip last October. Iran has been a key supporter of Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions as well as an informal coalition of militias known as the "Axis of Resistance" hailing from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Intensifying clashes between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement have particularly raised concerns over the prospect of a broader regional conflict, as well as recent warnings exchanged between Iranian and Israeli officials.

Amid the first-ever direct series of attacks between Iran and Israel in April, a number of Iranian officials and experts began to openly discuss potential changes in Iran's nuclear doctrine, fueling further concerns from the White House.

Earlier this month, the U.S. and 19 other nations on the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors issued a formal censure against Iran, whose officials decried the move as "hasty" and "unwise" as well as "detrimental" to diplomacy and cooperation.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told Newsweek at the time that, "we have long said that, ultimately, we view diplomacy as the best way to achieve a sustainable, effective solution with regards to Iran's nuclear program."

"But given Iran's escalation across the board, including its nuclear escalations and its failure to cooperate with the IAEA," the spokesperson said, "we are far away from anything like that right now, and all options remain on the table."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also vowed to ensure that Iran would not be capable of developing nuclear weapons, including through the potential use of military force.

While Iravani reiterated Iran's commitment to not obtaining nuclear weapons on Monday, he also referenced the fraught regional security situation, primarily blaming the U.S. and Israel.

"The massive military build-up, aggression, and occupation of the U.S. as well as its widespread export of sophisticated weaponry to our region in past decades and at present, is another source of regional insecurity and instability," Iravani said in his statement.

"A living example of the destructive and destabilizing role of the U.S. is the massive supply of highly sophisticated bombs to the Israeli regime to enable it to kill more Palestinian women and children more brutally and destroy more hospitals, schools, mosques, and homes in Gaza," he added.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused one another of targeting civilians throughout their war, now in its ninth month, but have denied allegations that their side engaged in such practices.

Iravani also denied Western accusations regarding Iran's alleged transfer of weapons to Yemen's Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthi movement, to be used in the group's unprecedented campaign of strikes on Israel and commercial vessels over the war in Gaza, and to Russia to be used in the country's ongoing war in Ukraine.

At the same time, he asserted that Iran's space and missile programs were outside the purview of the JCPOA despite calls from the U.S. for a more comprehensive agreement to include restrictions on these capabilities.

Meanwhile, the JCPOA has once again risen to the forefront of divisive political debates at home within Iran as the country prepares to hold an extraordinary presidential election at the end of this week following the sudden death last month of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter accident.

Of the two conservative front-runners, Saeed Jalili, former nuclear negotiator and close aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has traditionally opposed the JCPOA, while parliamentary speaker and former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf has been more amenable to the deal. The lone reformist candidate among the six approved candidates, parliament member Masoud Pezeshkian, has named Mohammed Javad Zarif, the former Iranian foreign minister who oversaw JCPOA negotiations, as his foreign policy adviser.

Last week, Zarif delivered a fiery speech in support of Pezeshkian, the JCPOA and engagement with the West during a televised discussion. He accused increasingly influential hard-liner politicians of sabotaging efforts to revive the nuclear deal in remarks that drew critical responses from both Jalili and Qalibaf.

On Saturday, Khamenei called on candidates to avoid making remarks that would be seen as playing into the hands of the Islamic Republic's foes during a meeting with top judiciary officials.

"The assumption is that all candidates love Iran and the Islamic Republic, that's because they aspire to become president within this system and in order to serve the people," Khamenei said. "Therefore, they should not speak in a way that pleases the enemy."