The official said “reports that we have accepted or are considering new concessions to Iran as part of rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal are categorically false. It is Iran that has made concessions on critical issues.” Reuters first reported the development.
As CNN reported last week, Iran also formally withdrew its long-standing request to remove Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps from the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The Iranians also dropped demands to delist several companies linked to the IRGC, CNN reported. The Trump administration designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2019 as part of a “maximum pressure campaign” imposed after the US withdrew from the deal in 2018.
Nor were requests about the IRGC or IAEA investigations included in the text of Iran’s response last week to a draft nuclear deal proposed by the European Union, officials said. However, it is possible that if Iran cooperates with the open IAEA investigation before a new agreement is signed, that investigation could technically be closed until a formal agreement is reached.
The US had insisted during negotiations both that the IRGC remain on the list and that the IAEA be allowed to continue its investigations, so the Biden administration views Iran’s response plan as a major concession. It is unclear whether Iran has maintained its third key demand, which is that the deal include a mechanism by which Tehran would be compensated if a future US president pulls out of the deal.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told CNN on Monday that the agency “will not at all close down” the investigations, noting that “so far Iran has not given us the technically credible explanations we need to explain the origin of many traces of uranium , the presence of equipment in parts.”
“This idea that politically we’re going to stop doing our job is unacceptable to us,” Grossi added.
In June, Iran retaliated against the IAEA investigation by removing surveillance cameras at key nuclear sites, which prevented inspectors and negotiators from receiving timely information about the country’s uranium enrichment program.
That camera has yet to be activated, and the senior administration official told CNN that if Iran wants to return to the deal, it will have to agree to “comprehensive inspections” by the IAEA.
“If we reach an agreement to return to the deal, Iran will have to take several important steps to dismantle its nuclear program,” the official said, including allowing the IAEA “to implement the most comprehensive inspection regime ever negotiated , allowing it to detect any attempt by Iran to covertly pursue a nuclear weapon. Much of this international monitoring will remain in place indefinitely.”
Iran would also be barred from enriching and stockpiling uranium to very limited levels, denying it has the material needed for a bomb, the official said, and would not be allowed to keep “the 20 and 60 percent enriched uranium that it currently stockpiles . .”
A deal would also require the removal of “thousands of advanced centrifuges” used by Iran, the official said, “including all centrifuges being enriched at the fortified underground facility at Fordow. Strict limits on Iranian enrichment would mean that even if Iran withdrew agreement to pursue a nuclear weapon, it would take at least six months to do so.”
On Monday, the US State Department spokesman expressed optimism about the prospects of reviving the deal.
“A deal is closer now than it was two weeks ago, but the outcome of these ongoing discussions remains uncertain as they remain open,” Ned Price said in a State Department briefing.
CNN’s Adam Pourahmadi and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting.
