Returning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear program will not be easy, neither Iran nor the United States wants to concede, says former Russian ambassador to the Islamic Republic Alexander Maryasov.
"There is not an easy job ahead. Neither of the parties will yield now, because it may be seen as a demonstration of weakness," Maryasov said at a news conference at the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.
He went on to say that the issue of whether the United States or Iran should return to the deal is a stumbling block, even though both sides are interested in restoring the JCPOA: "leave well enough alone". According to Maryasov, the US will not renege on the deal that closed Iran's path to possessing nuclear weapons.
A return to the original JCPOA is now possible, he said.
"Failure of the JCPOA would have a negative impact on the situation in the region," Maryasov said.
He noted that in this case, Iran's withdrawal from the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons may also occur, although the probability of such a scenario is low.
Director of the Center for Energy and Security Anton Khlopkov, in his turn, noted at the press conference that the longer the beginning of the serious direct consultations is postponed, the harder it will be for both parties to return to full implementation of the agreement.
"Both the US and Iran are trying to raise the ante in a potential dialogue," Khlopkov said.
He noted that in both the US and Iran, domestic politics influence the possibility and terms of a return to the accord. According to Khlopkov, returning to the original version of the agreement is the only possible option today. According to him, if the JCPOA is not restored to effectiveness before the elections in Iran scheduled for June, it will be harder to agree on a new deal, because key negotiating figures from the Iranian side will leave.
In his turn, Adlan Margoyev, an expert at the Middle East Studies Center at the Institute of International Studies of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Foreign Ministry of Russia, noted that statements about Iran's possibility to make nuclear weapons in the near future have no sense when there is an understanding of what happens to the nuclear program, and the republic is the most verifiable country in the world.
"The IAEA does not inspect any other country as much as Iran does," he said.
"The West's treatability in the eyes of the Iranian people is at stake," the expert stressed.
According to him, if the damage caused by the agreement is not corrected, the world will lose Iran at the negotiating table for years.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from RIA Novosti