Iran: Dialogue with the IAEA and political maneuvering with Trump
Iran: Dialogue with the IAEA and political maneuvering with Trump
11-15-2024
Iran seeks to confront any difficulties and political consequences that may appear from the next US administration and decisions to raise the level of economic sanctions according to the maximum pressure policy followed by President-elect Trump in his first term, and the Iranian leadership is studying all ways and means that will enable it to work to distance the aspects of the upcoming treatment of it by Washington.
It saw in the visit of Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to Tehran on November 13, 2024, an opportunity to prove its international and regional position and its quest to start opening a new page in relations with countries of the world and international organizations and follow effective formulas in adhering to the policy of dialogue and moving away from the state in which Iranian politics was characterized by showing strength and intransigence, and showing the new image with which the government of President Masoud Barzani leads Iran with the approach of President Ronald Trump assuming his presidential duties and forming the US administration. Iranian
officials expressed their desire and orientations to be prepared to negotiate the future of the nuclear agreement in accordance with the interests and strategic goals of all parties and in a way that achieves a wide scope for returning to negotiations.
The statements of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Grossi, came after the end of his discussions with President Pezeshkian and the Iranian Foreign Minister, that he (sensed a desire in Iran to reach an agreement with the West, and this requires cooperation with Iran to confirm good intentions), and he refers to the lack of Iranian cooperation with the agency in the field of issuing visas to a number of the International Agency’s inspectors, and what was included in the meeting he held in September 2023 with the former Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings.
Iran realizes that the next US administration is well aware of the progress it has made in enriching uranium to 60%, increasing its stock of centrifuges, and expanding its ballistic missile and drone programs. It fears that President Trump will return to using the maximum pressure policy against it, which will hinder the progress it has made and return to imposing economic sanctions on it, which will increase its social crises, popular pressures, and mass protests over poor living conditions, low standards of living, high inflation, rising prices, and unemployment among young people. Therefore, it has worked to follow the method of dialogue exchange and listening to the Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency to avoid any American and European reactions and isolation in international relations.
This is the position that President Masoud Pezeshkian tried to express during his meetings and attendance at the UN General Assembly sessions in September 2024 and the dialogue that took place with Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, when he said (We are ready to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency in order to remove the alleged doubts about our country’s peaceful nuclear activity). He came closer to proving his country’s position regarding the conflicts and confrontations that surround the Middle East and the Arab world in the Palestinian territories and southern Lebanon, and his confirmation (that war will not be in the interest of Iran, the world, and the region, and no sane person seeks to ignite it).
Through these political positions, Iran seeks to return to dealing realistically with the crises witnessed by the region in a way that secures for it an influential political role and a position in any upcoming negotiations and field changes on the ground to emerge from its isolation, reconfigure its position, sustain the existence of its political system, remove any ambiguity and doubts regarding its nuclear program, and seek joint work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to be a major key that distances it from the policy of American intimidation and pressure.
To prove the truth of the general position of the policy pursued by the Pezeshkian government, which enjoys the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit the Ford and Natanz nuclear facilities to review them and outline the developments taking place in them and what is related to uranium enrichment and stored materials from centrifuges and verify the information that indicated that Iran possesses missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a range of 2,000 kilometers that threaten global peace and security.
The constants of Iranian policy are centered on maintaining the regime’s grip and using the policy of diversity and maneuver in presenting goals and preempting any project to interfere in its policy and regional project with a field response represented by the process of progress in nuclear activity, which is the position that Iran faces in the possibility of issuing a decision by the Board of Governors of the International Agency with the support of Germany, France and Britain to condemn it and its lack of cooperation with the agency and implementing its requirements and delaying inspections and accusing it of destabilizing security and stability in the region, at the end of November 2024.
Iran is following the formation of the political team of President Trump’s administration, which included (appointing Brian Hook as head of his transitional national security team, who is among the supporters of maximum pressure against Iran, Russia and China, and Michael Waltz as National Security Advisor, who is considered one of the strongest supporters of attacking the Iranian nuclear program, in addition to Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, who is one of the opponents of Iran, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela and worked for 10 years to contain China), so it worked to form and prepare a political body and a team of diplomats to negotiate with European countries in any upcoming steps that succeed in restoring dialogue with the United States of America, which consists of ( Javad Mohammad Zarif, former Foreign Minister and political advisor for foreign affairs to the current Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Abbas Araghchi, the current Foreign Minister, are among the participants in the rounds and dialogues of negotiations that took place in the Austrian capital (Vienna) during the past years. These are steps characterized by a realistic vision and political pragmatism that work to calm the situation under the Trump administration.
Iranian Studies Unit
rawabetcenter.com
