(Real Clear World) Amir Abbas Fakhravar and G. William Heiser - The website of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) accidentally published the minutes of an off-the-record briefing with Iranian deputy nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi on Aug. 5, before it was removed hours later. Araghchi quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov, who headed the Russian negotiating team. Reportedly, Rybakov said: "I was telling my associates last night that these Iranians are truly geniuses. They came to get a green light for their enrichment program from the Security Council in exchange for what? In exchange for their sanctions to be lifted. Not only do they not give anything in exchange, but they receive something in exchange for what they receive! Their sanctions will be lifted and their enrichment will continue." Regarding daily inspections of Iranian facilities, Araghchi said: "Even before the Geneva agreement, the inspectors were in our sites four to five times a week. Therefore, we have no problems with inspections. Now in Natanz, they can not only stay there for 24 hours, but they may even sleep there if they so wish. In Natanz, there is nothing to be found so we have no problems with that." Araghchi explains how Iran could handle the 24-day process triggered if the IAEA suspects activities in non-nuclear facilities: "The IAEA has to present us with evidence as to why it thinks there have been illegal activities occurring....In cases where their evidence is not entirely unfounded, we can even use substitute methods; for example, we will say we cannot allow you into the main facility but we can allow you access to the area behind it. The other method is for us to videotape it ourselves and present it to them." The Iranian side made clear that it would not stop arming Hizbullah, and the president knew that he could not defend the deal before U.S. allies and the Congress without arms and missile sanctions. The solution: Kerry proposed relaxing these sanctions and putting them in the UN resolution. As Araghchi explained: "At the end they themselves came and said that we will separate the [nuclear] agreement from the [UN] resolution. We will include the arms and missiles sanctions in the resolution so that breaking it would not be considered as breaking the agreement." Both Washington and Tehran have acknowledged that the JCPOA is not a legally binding international agreement. It is not a treaty. It is not even an executive agreement; it has no signatories. It is nothing more than a set of voluntary understandings. No American president has ever entered into such a long-term arms control agreement on his own authority. Amir Abbas Fakhravar, an Iranian dissident, is an adjunct professor at Texas State University. G. William Heiser is a former Reagan administration official who served as Arms Control Director on the National Security Council staff.
2015-09-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive