Iran takes 'carrot and stick' approach with US
nuclear deal
Iran has softened its tone about whether
the release of the US prisoners held in the Islamic Republic is negotiable
while taking a tougher stance on the possibility of Washington walking away
from a landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
suggested in an interview with CBS News aired on Sunday that a prisoner swap
could be negotiated if the US dropped its "regime change" rhetoric.
He said Iran wants to see
"respect" before considering entering any talks about prisoners with
the administration of US President Donald Trump.
"You do not engage in negotiations by
exercising disrespect for a country, for its people, for its government by
making claims, including this illusion about regime change."
The US administration has openly said in
the past that its policy towards Iran is to support "elements" inside
the country "that would lead to a peaceful transition" of the Iranian
government.
Trump has also indicated that he wants to
fill key roles within his administration with figures who have been outspoken
advocates of such a stance.
'Learn
how to treat other sovereign nations'
There are at least five prisoners, four
Americans of Iranian descent and a US-Chinese dual citizen, imprisoned in Iran,
all on national security charges.
There have been concerns over the health
of octogenarian Baquer Namazi, a former UNICEF representative who was arrested
in 2016 and underwent heart surgery later in 2017.
Zarif said despite Iran's judiciary being
an independent body, the government had been "trying to use our influence
from a humanitarian perspective, first of all, to make sure that the health
requirements are taken care of; as well as to see whether a humanitarian
agreement can be reached".
Trump is under pressure from the families
of those in Iranian prisons as they see no sign of effective efforts leading
possibly to the release of the detainees despite the US president's campaign
promise.
The US government did try in December 2017
to negotiate the issue with Tehran through a direct channel. However, Iran
turned down what Zarif refered to in his recent interview as a
"demand", adding that before making it the US needed to "learn
how to treat other sovereign nations".
Nuclear
deal
For the centrist government in Iran, which
is dealing with a financial crisis shortly after getting past rare nationwide
unrest, the survival of the 2015 nuclear deal is seemingly of much greater
concern than the security threat intelligence and judiciary at home see in the
Americans they have held in prison.
Trump has until May 12 to decide whether
to put back in place the sanctions that were removed as part of the pact.
Analysts believe such a move might kill
the deal altogether, especially now that Iran indicates it might accelerate its
uranium enrichment if the US pulls out.
"We have put a number of options for
ourselves, and those options are ready, including options that would involve
resuming at much greater speed our nuclear activities," Zarif said in part
of the CBS interview that was published Friday.
"Those options are envisaged within
the deal and those options are ready to be implemented and we will make the
necessary decision when we see fit."
Iran had said in the past that it will
stay in the deal in case of US withdrawal.
French President Emmanuel Macron also said
Sunday in a Fox News interview that there is no "plan-B" for the deal
that he will try to persuade the US to preserve during a three-day state visit
starting Monday.
Saeed Jalili contributed to this report
from Tehran, Iran
Response:
The targeted audience for this article is
for the citizens of the United States and Iran, people who are of voting age,
who are interested in the current affairs of their country. This audience was
mainly to inform people as to what is happening in the world today, the bias
was slight, but the author did lean towards the side against the United States,
due to the tone of voice that was towards Trump. I am not familiar with this
topic, however when looking at the situation from my narrow lends would lean
towards the United States side, only because I from the United States, and have
a bias towards it.
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