In addition to the different versions of the nuclear deal framework presented by the United States and Iran over the past few days, Tehran is adding one more: The Islamic Republic will not sign off on a deal limiting its nuclear development capacity unless all sanctions against it are lifted on the same day the deal is signed.
In a speech Thursday monitored by Western news agencies, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reiterated Iran’s position that there would be no deal “unless all sanctions are lifted on the same day… We want a win-win deal for all parties involved in the nuclear talks.” Speaking in honor of Iran’s Nuclear Day, Rouhani said that Our goal in the talks is to preserve our nation’s nuclear rights. We want an outcome that will be in everyone’s benefit. The Iranian nation has been and will be the victor in the negotiations.”
In a speech last week, U.S. President Barack H. Obama stressed that sanctions would not be lifted unless international inspectors were satisfied that Iran had indeed complied with requirements for inspection and the number of centrifuges it is allowed to have for nuclear development. On Monday, American officials said that the sanctions would not be lifted at once, but would be phased out over time.
After the dramatic announcement last week by international officials who had been working to conclude the deal in Switzerland, the U.S. issued a “fact sheet,” stating the conditions of the deal that would see Iran voluntarily end its nuclear weapons development program. According to the U.S. version, “U.S. and E.U. nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after the IAEA has verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps. If at any time Iran fails to fulfill its commitments, these sanctions will snap back into place. All past UN Security Council resolutions on the Iran nuclear issue will be lifted simultaneous with the completion, by Iran, of nuclear-related actions addressing all key concerns.”
Iran issued its own version of the deal, in which is said that “all of the sanctions will be immediately removed after reaching a comprehensive agreement. According to the reached solutions, after the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan of Joint Action, all of the UN resolutions will be revoked and all of the multilateral economic and financial sanctions by the EU and the unilateral ones by the US will be annulled.”
Similar differences in the versions are to be found in most of the tenets of the deal, including the number of centrifuges Iran will be allowed to have, what it will do with its uranium stockpile, and other issues.
