Tehran will not insist that its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be removed from the US sanctions list, Source reports.
Iran has withdrawn its demand that Washington remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the US terrorism blacklist, One source reported on Friday, citing an unnamed senior US official. Until now, the issue has been a major stumbling block in talks to salvage the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
According to the news network source, Iran did not include such a demand in its response to the “finaltext of the agreement, proposed by the EU on August 8, to reactivate the nuclear pact. «The current version of the text, and what they are demanding, drop it, the official told. So, if we are closer to an agreement, that is why.«
The official also indicated that Iran has backed down on its demands to delist several companies linked to the IRGC, the country’s elite military unit.
The Biden administration has insisted that it will not lift sanctions against the IRGC. Previously, high-profile US lawmakers and officials from both sides have spoken out against any effort to remove restrictions placed on the military unit.
The designation was made in 2019 under former President Donald Trump, and marked the first time the US has labeled a part of another government a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
The source said that while reviving the Iran nuclear deal it now seems “closer than two weeks ago, the outcome remains uncertain” since the parties have to reach an agreement on a series of other points.
These include Iran’s alleged insistence that the US should pay a fine if it unilaterally withdraws from the deal again, and a demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) drop its investigation into Tehran’s nuclear program. .
According to another source, progress in the negotiations could be somewhat slower from this point.
Earlier, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative in the negotiations, said that while talks to revive the nuclear deal are drawing to a close, even the last few sentences may become a stumbling block.
Last week, Politico reported that the EU was proposing to water down US sanctions on the IRGC by allowing non-US entities, including Europeans, to do business with Iranians involved in “minutes” with the IRGC in a way that would not trigger US sanctions. This move, if agreed, would mean the EU could trade with Iran almost unhindered.
The IRGC was founded after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. The Corps is tasked with protecting the values of the Revolution, along with national security in its broadest sense. The IRGC has its own ground, naval, air, and missile forces. It also has its own special elite within the elite, the Quds force, an expeditionary branch tasked with overseas operations and unconventional warfare.
The initial nuclear deal signed in 2015 by Iran, the US, UK, France and Germany, as well as Russia, China and the EU, involved Tehran agreeing to certain restrictions on its nuclear industry in exchange for the relaxation of economic sanctions. and other incentives.
In 2018, however, it was torpedoed by the US under then-President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew from the deal, saying it was fundamentally flawed. As a result, Iran began to gradually reduce some of its commitments under the deal, such as the level of enriched uranium it produces, which could allow Tehran to build an atomic bomb. However, according to the Iranian authorities, this “is not on the agenda.”