The U.S. said the revival of a nuclear deal with Iran may not happen soon following recent requests from Tehran, including that Washington removes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its list of terrorist organizations.
“I can’t be confident it’s imminent,” Robert Malley, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran, told reporters on Sunday at a conference in Qatar. “A few months ago we thought it was imminent.”
The comments come as the U.S. reassesses the political costs of reviving the 2015 pact that limited Iran’s nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief, including on oil exports. Russia’s war on Ukraine is also complicating the negotiations, which involve Moscow. Talks in Vienna between Iran and the European Union, U.K., Russia and China have dragged on for a year.
Tehran and the U.S. are negotiating indirectly. The status of the IRGC, a military organization that’s armed Iranian proxy groups around the Middle East and been blamed for numerous attacks on the U.S. and its allies, isn’t directly linked to the 2015 agreement.
But Iran has insisted that the group comes off the black list. nuclear deal
“It’s one of the requests Iran has made,” Malley said. “We haven’t decided to delist the IRGC. The sooner we get back into the deal — we think it’s in our interest to be back in a deal and we think Iran’s too — the more faithfully we can implement it.”
Lifting the designation could alienate Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, just as President Joe Biden works to rally them against Moscow.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been attacked by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels based in Yemen several times this year.
The most recent strikes came on Friday, when the Houthis targeted several sites in Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones and caused a large fire at a fuel depot in Jeddah, where Sunday’s Formula 1 race is taking place.
Gulf Arab states have criticized Washington for responding too slowly to Houthi aggression and pursuing the nuclear negotiations with Iran, which they fear will hand Tehran an oil windfall.
