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WASHINGTON - U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley has indicated that recent attacks by Iranian proxies on U.S. forces in Iraq are making it tougher for the Biden administration to build domestic support for its new diplomatic initiative to resolve U.S.-Iran tensions.

U.S. troops and bases in Iraq have come under rocket attack several times since last month, causing multiple casualties, including the death of an American civilian contractor and wounding of a U.S. military service member.

U.S. forces responded to the first of the attacks, on an airbase housing U.S. troops in the city of Irbil on Feb. 15, by striking Iran-backed militants in eastern Syria 10 days later. U.S. news site Politico cited unnamed U.S. defense officials as saying they suspected an Iranian proxy militia also was responsible for a March 3 rocket attack on western Iraqs Al-Asad airbase that also houses American forces.

In a Wednesday interview with VOA Persian at the State Department, his first with VOA since taking office in January, Malley was asked whether he thought the attacks were part of an Iranian campaign to pressure President Joe Biden into easing sanctions imposed on Tehran by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

It's not really helping the climate in the U.S. to have Iranian allies take shots at Americans in Iraq or elsewhere, and the U.S. will respond as it has responded and it will continue to respond, Malley said.

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Biden campaigned on a pledge to revive diplomacy with Iran and ease Trumps sanctions if it resumes full compliance with a 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Under the deal, Tehran promised world powers to curb its nuclear activities that could be weaponized in return for relief from international sanctions.

Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, saying it did not do enough to stop objectionable Iranian behavior, and unilaterally tightened U.S. sanctions aimed at achieving that goal. Iran retaliated a year later by starting to violate the deals nuclear curbs, reducing the amount of time it would need to develop nuclear weapons to what U.S. officials have said is several months. Tehran has long denied seeking to weaponize what it calls a civilian nuclear program.

Biden, who was inaugurated in January, faced calls last week from both opposition Republicans and his fellow Democrats in the U.S. Congress to take a tougher approach toward Iran. Referring to what they said were escalating attacks on U.S. and coalition personnel in Iraq and Irans recent JCPOA violations, the 12 Democrat and 12 Republican members of the House of Representatives wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, saying the Biden administration should make use of existing leverage to sharpen the choices available to Tehran.

Speaking to VOA, Malley reiterated the administrations desire for talks with Iran about returning the U.S. to compliance with the JCPOA if Iran does the same and expressed hope that would happen soon. He suggested recent actions by Iran and its proxies are not helping the U.S. diplomatic initiative to move faster.

If ... these are [Iranian] tactics aimed at speeding things up, it's hard to see how that is going to work, Malley said.

In a separate interview with BBC Persian on Wednesday, Malley said that if Iran does not want to enter into direct talks with the U.S., the two sides could negotiate through a third party.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in an interview with Politico published Wednesday, reiterated Tehrans promise to resume compliance with the JCPOA immediately only if the U.S. first takes steps to ease the sanctions. He also warned that if Washington continues to demand that Tehran make the first move, Iran will take unspecified new steps away from the nuclear deal.

The Biden administration has said any U.S. return to the JCPOA would be followed by negotiations aimed at strengthening the nuclear deal to resolve U.S. concerns about Irans other activities, including its missile program and support for Islamist militants engaged in long-running conflicts with the U.S. and its regional allies. U.S. officials have not specified how they would persuade Iran to enter such negotiations and what kind of new deal would be produced.

The JCPOA has shown that it is fragile, and we believe it can be strengthened with a follow-on deal. And we will press Iran and try to convince Iran that it's in their interest as well to get a follow-on deal, Malley said. Of course, Iran will have issues that it will want to bring to the table, he acknowledged.

Zarif, speaking to Politico, said Iran will consider discussing nonnuclear issues if the U.S. passes the test of JCPOA compliance.

But the United States miserably failed, not only during the Trump administration but even during the past two months of the Biden administration, he said.

The top Iranian diplomat also expressed doubt that the U.S. would be prepared to discuss issues such as U.S. arms sales to Irans regional rivals.

Are the U.S. and its Western allies prepared to stop that? Thats a very lucrative market and I dont think President Biden wants to do that, Zarif said.

In January, the Biden administration announced a freeze on Trump-approved U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and a review of those the former president approved for the United Arab Emirates.

U.S. officials told national mediathat the arms sales reviews were not unusual for a new administration and said many of the transactions are likely to go forward eventually.

This article originated in VOAs Persian Service. Click herefor the original Persian version of the story.

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Iranian Proxy Attacks on Americans 'Not Helping Climate in US' for Reviving Iran Talks, US Envoy Says - Voice of America

(Reuters) - Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei welcomed the Iranian New Year as one of production, support and removal of barriers in a live televised speech on Saturday.

FILE PHOTO: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a televised speech in Tehran, Iran March 11, 2021. Official Khamenei Website/Handout via REUTERS

There is good ground for a production leap, Khamenei said, adding the government needed to get rid of any legal obstacles to higher output and growth as the economy suffers under U.S. sanctions.

The army fired gun salutes at Tehrans Azadi Square to usher in Nowruz - New Day in Persian and the most important date in the Iranian calendar, marked at the spring equinox - and the beginning of the year 1,400, which is celebrated in a dozen countries stretching from the Caucasus to central Asia.

In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a Nowruz message calling for peace, prosperity and understanding.

That is the message and the joy of Nowruz that we are honouring ... This year, perhaps more than ever, that message is badly needed, Biden said in a White House statement.

Bidens administration is exploring ways to restore the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran signed with major world powers, but which was abandoned in 2018 by President Donald Trump who reimposed sanctions.

The United States and the other Western powers which originally signed up to the 2015 deal appear to be at an impasse over which side should return to the accord first, making it unlikely U.S. sanctions that have crippled its economy can be quickly removed.

In a separate message, President Hassan Rouhani said he was hopeful the new year will see the end of the sanctions.

We will defeat the sanctions ... I am more hopeful than eight years ago, Rouhani said, referring to when he was elected for his first term.

Rouhani is barred from standing for a third term and the slate of presidential candidates has yet to be finalised.

Irans hardliners say the U.S. sanctions are proof Rouhanis policy of reaching out to the countrys enemies was a failure. A delay in progress on returning to the nuclear deal could hurt the chances of a moderate succeeding Rouhani, although the final decision on any diplomatic initiative would be taken by Khamenei rather than the elected president.

Khamenei said on Saturday that the June election will likely bring to office new managers who most probably will be energetic and strongly motivated.

Editing by Christina Fincher and David Holmes

Read more here:
Supreme leader ushers in Iranian New Year with message of hope - Reuters

A man reads the news about the U.S. elections on Nov. 9 in Tehran. Many Iranians are hopeful that President Biden will lifts sanctions imposed on Iran by his predecessor. Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption

A man reads the news about the U.S. elections on Nov. 9 in Tehran. Many Iranians are hopeful that President Biden will lifts sanctions imposed on Iran by his predecessor.

One of President Biden's campaign promises reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is at a standstill. Iran has been ramping up its nuclear program and demanding that Biden lift economic sanctions imposed to deprive the regime of cash.

The nuclear deal between world powers and Iran was based on lifting the crippling international sanctions like blocking billions in dollars of Iranian oil sales in return for Iran limiting its nuclear program.

Ardavan Amir-Aslani, an Iranian French lawyer who advises foreign companies wanting to do business in Iran, recalls when the deal was signed there was great optimism it would create investment opportunities there.

"The bet was that through these investment opportunities, the return of Iran into the civilized diplomatic society, the return of Iran to the financial markets," he says, the hope was with all this newfound prosperity, "Iran would change dramatically its behavior."

"That was the bet. However, Trump didn't allow that to happen," he adds.

In 2018, President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal and began reimposing sanctions on Iran. Amir-Aslani, who at the time was representing French carmakers Citron and Peugeot, says the impact was immediate.

"All of these world-class corporations wanted to go into Iran. But with Trump's withdrawal, all of them left within 24 hours," he says.

Amir-Aslani says Peugeot left behind for $450 million in Iran that it couldn't recover, French oil company Total left $50 million. He says major projects, such as oil terminal and airport revamps, were abandoned.

The Trump administration threatened international companies would be cut off from the U.S. financial system if they dealt with Iran's economy everything from manufacturing to steel and aluminum companies to banks. Iran's economy, which had experienced a brief surge after the deal, plummeted. Inflation and living costs soared.

Richard Goldberg, an official on the National Security Council during the Trump administration, now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, says the sanctions have been an effective tool and the Biden administration shouldn't rush to ease them just yet.

"If you're in a negotiation, it's all about leverage," he says. "If you give up that leverage from the beginning, you're never going to quite be able to get to that final deal with the best outcomes you're looking for."

But if Biden is too inflexible, Iran won't believe he's interested in talks, says Amir-Aslani.

"In Tehran, people are going to say there is no difference between Biden and Trump because Biden, despite his promises, has kept the Trump sanctions in place," he says.

In February, the U.S. agreed to informal talks with Iran hosted by the European Union but Iran rejected the offer. Iran wants all the sanctions lifted there are more than 1,500.

There are half-measures Biden can take to show Iran he's serious, says Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economics professor at Virginia Tech and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. The U.S. could start easing some of the many sanctions, he says, and the Treasury Department could turn a blind eye to companies dealing with Iran.

"The moment they can ascertain something is going to happen, I think the businesses in every country are going to hear, get a memo that from now on, it's OK to do A, B and C," he says. "The fact that there's not going to be a billion dollar fine at the other end for a company, I think that's really the key."

The U.S. could also allow access to oil revenues that are frozen in foreign countries, says Salehi-Isfahani.

Iran has been pressuring South Korea for payment of $7 billion worth of oil. Earlier this year, in a move widely seen as trying to force the issue, Iran seized a South Korean tanker in the Persian Gulf. Salehi-Isfahani says there's reportedly movement to unlock some of those funds.

"What I'm told is that some telephone calls were made to Koreans and if they wanted to release 1 billion of the 7 billion they owe to Iran, the U.S. would look the other way," he says.

That's the kind of move foreign businesses are looking for when thinking about Iran again, says Omid Gholamifar, the Tehran-based CEO of Serkland Invest, a Swedish firm. His company has invested about $60 million into four major Iranian companies focusing on consumer markets such as pharmaceuticals and beverages, which are allowed under U.S. sanctions.

EU countries as well as China, Russia and the United Kingdom remain in the Iran deal.

Gholamifar recently took part in a European-Iranian virtual business forum looking at opportunities if the sanctions are lifted. There were about 2,000 participants.

"There is a sense of optimism. I think everybody who was at the forum by definition believes that things are going in the right direction and that there is a huge opportunity to capitalize on," he says.

Gholamifar says even if the U.S. lifts many of the sanctions, companies will likely be nervous investing in Iran. But he points out Iran has a young, talented and educated workforce, and a lot of raw materials.

"Now, I want to be absolutely clear on this, I always say this doesn't mean that Iran is perfect or that Iran is risk free," he says. "Everything might still go wrong."

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What It Would Take For Biden To Revive The Iran Deal - NPR

CAIRO - Saudi coalition warplanes Saturday attacked Houthi forces trying to advance around the government-controlled city of Marib. west of Sanaa, Yemen. Saudi warplanes also launched multiple airstrikes overnight on Houthi targets.

Houthi forces claimed to have captured strategic high ground Friday outside Marib in a series of attacks aimed at wresting the city and surrounding oil-producing regions from the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. But pro-Saudi media said the Houthis took heavy casualties, and it was not clear if they were any closer to the city.

The Saudi-led coalition also said it intercepted an armed Houthi drone that was trying overnight to attack the southern Saudi town of Khamis Musheit. A series of Houthi missiles or drones caused minor damage in an attack Friday on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Riyadh.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Saudi media the alleged Houthi attacks on Aramco appeared to be coming from Iran, not Yemen, and that Iranian weapons were being used in the attacks.

"All of the missiles and drones that came into Saudi Arabia are Iranian-manufactured or Iranian-supplied. Several came from the north and several came from the sea. The U.N. laid responsibility [for a previous attack on Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq] on the Iranians, as have other countries," he said.

Houthi military spokesman Colonel Yahya Saree told the group's Al Masirah TV on Friday that the missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory would continue as long as a blockade continued to be imposed on his forces.

The Houthis and forces loyal to the Yemeni government have been trying to capture ground from each other in both Marib province and in the country's third-largest city of Taez. The Houthis reportedly have been blocking roads into Taez.

Analyst Salem al Yami told Saudi media that weeks of Houthi attacks on Marib city had many Yemenis worried that a Houthi victory in the city would give the Iranians a foothold in the region.

He said that the loss of Marib would be a major loss for Yemen since the Houthis represent only a small part of the population, and that the Iranians also would stand to gain control of strategic resources in the country.

Also Saturday, the Houthis said they had attacked the airport in the southern Saudi city of Abha. It was not clear if there was any damage.

Pro-Hadi government forces said they had inflicted serious casualties on the Houthis during the past 24 hours, killing at least 30 fighters. A number of children have also been killed in recent fighting, according to the U.N.

See the article here:
Saudi Coalition Retaliates Against Iran-backed Houthi Forces in Yemen - Voice of America

Its a delicate dance of waiting for the other party to make a move, and trying to guess what, exactly, your foeand, at the same time, partneris thinking. Time is also running out. With the Iranian presidential election coming in June, there is only a short time left for Tehran and Washington to start the diplomatic process and revive the deal before the administration, and the political calculus, changes in Iran. And recent attacks between the U.S. and Iran-backed forces in Syria and Iraq raise the question of how long the two countries can go until rising tensions preclude the possibility of a diplomatic deal.

One central player in these discussions is Javad Zarif, Irans foreign minister, who brokered the deal in 2015. Zarif, who speaks fluent English and went to graduate school in Colorado, is seen as one of Irans leading moderates, along with President Hassan Rouhani. Often clashing with hard-liners in Iran, Zarif staked his career on the agreementand faced a backlash when President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018. Zarif announced his resignation in 2019, but Rouhani rejected it, and Zarif continued in the role. Now Zarif is caught between a United States that seems to want to reshape the deal, and an Iran that is increasingly opposed to anything but restarting the original deal. Its a difficult position even for Zarif, who is used to walking a tightrope as the favored moderate interlocutor in a country where hard-liners are thought to have most of the power. We spoke with Zarif on Skype to hear more about what his administration is making of Biden so far, how domestic Iranian politics is affecting the possibility of a revived deal, where theyll budgeand where they definitely wont.

Negar Mortazavi: Iran and the U.S. both claim the same goal of going back to full compliance with the nuclear deal. But two months into the Biden administration, we still see a diplomatic impasse. It seems like each side is telling the other to take the first step. So far, the Biden administration says its ready to meet and discuss a process for return. Why have you not met yet?

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif: Well, I think we need to be clear about what needs to be done. Clearly when we agreed on the JCPOA in July of 2015, Iran implemented JCPOA, its obligations under JCPOA, the IAEA verified Iranian implementation in January 2016 and then the United States responded. That was the sequence of events in the beginning. Iran continued compliance; the United States during the Obama administration, more or less, less more than more, complied with JCPOA. And then the Trump administration came, and for four years the United States did not comply. And in the middle of those four years, the United States withdrew from the deal.

Now if the United States wants to go back to the deal, it has to follow the same order that we started. It has to now come back to compliance. As soon as the United States comes to compliance, Iran will comply. This is as easy as that. You see there is a cause-and-effect situation: The United States stopped complying and then after a year or almost 15 months, five IAEA reports indicated that Iran even continued to comply after the U.S. withdrew. And then Iran stopped and reduced its compliance; thats within the terms of the JCPOA. [Iran still considers itself a party to the deal, though it has formally invoked a dispute-resolution mechanism, reduced its compliance and expanded its nuclear activities.] Now we want to go back to compliance. The party that has started this process has to go back and Iran will immediately go back.

Now, why dont we talk? The reason for not talking is that there is nothing to talk about. We have an agreement; we talked about this agreement with the same people who are in the White House today, with the same people who are in the State Department today. So they know exactly what it takes to go back to compliance, unless they are not serious about what theyre saying. They want to use pressure and coercion in order to extract new concessions from Iran. That is what Wendy Sherman said in her confirmation hearing for deputy secretary of state and what others have said: that the situation in 2021 is not the same as 2015.

They want a new agreement, they want a wider agreement, they want something else, they want to talk about the sunset clause, they want to talk about missiles, they want to talk about other issues.

That will go nowhere because in the 12 years that we negotiated, from 2003 to 2015, and in the two years that we focused on negotiations, mostly with the Americans, we dealt with all these issues.... Now they want to reopen those discussions, which means another two years of unnecessary discussion. So there's nothing to talk about.

We are ready to agree to a choreographythat is, the U.S. taking steps. and as soon as we can confirm that those steps have been taken, we can take our steps. And the process of verification for Iran is very clear; the IAEA will verify that we have complied.

NM: Lets talk about this process. What is the timing and the sequencing that Iran would agree to?

JZ: The U.S. can implement its obligations tomorrow, in 20 days, in a month, whenever. There has to be an executive order. Its clear what sanctions need to be removed. There are roughly 800 sanctions that President Trump re-imposed; there are roughly another 800 new sanctions that President Trump or Congress imposed; and there are some re-designations. President Trump re-designated certain [non-nuclear] entities in order to move them [the sanctions] away from nuclear-related issues to other issues. The Biden administration knows better than anybody what they are.

So first there has to be an executive order to return [to the JCPOA] and lift all these sanctions, basically terminate executive orders and waive congressional action, and that waiver needs to come into effect. As soon as that waiver comes into effect, that is as soon as the Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) allows transfer of money, transfer of oil, transportation, shipping, and all of that, then Iran can come back into compliance immediately. Our compliance doesn't take time; IAEA can verify it and its clear what we need to do.

NM: And how long are you, Iran, prepared to wait for the U.S. to make this return?

JZ: As long as it takes for the U.S. to return ...

NM: So you will officially stay in the deal until the U.S. comes back?

JZ: Well We are using [the JCPOAs dispute resolution] paragraph 36 contingency. And based on the decision of the Iranian parliament, which is now law and we are obliged to implement it. [Irans parliament recently passed a law mandating that Iran further expand its nuclear program if the U.S. does not come back to the deal.] If the United States continues its lack of compliance, it means that Iran will take new steps, as it is very clearly and transparently defined in the law. And the law is addressed to the government. It is not an ultimatum to anybody. Its a domestic law addressed to the government of Iran and we need to observe that law. As soon as the United States goes back to compliance, everything will reverse.

NM: You said that you knew and have met with Joe Biden when he was a senator. Has President Biden, after he became president, surprised you or acted differently than you expected?

JZ: No, I didn't expect him to act differently. I think the U.S. continues to be in the policy review process. But if it is in the policy review process, it should not portray itself as having changed its policy, because it hasnt. What we see as U.S. policy is exactly the same as the Trump administration; we haven't seen any change in policy. Weve seen Secretary of State Antony Blinken boasting about basically preventing South Korea from sending a fraction of our money to a Swiss channel, which was basically established by President Trump in order to at least create a front that the U.S. was not preventing humanitarian trade.... by extension of that logic it means that Secretary Blinken is preventing us from using our own money to buy food and medicine. That amounts to an international war crime.

NM: There are a number of dual-national citizens detained in Iran; there is British-Iranian Nazanin Zagahri-Ratcliff, Americans Siamak Namazi and his father Bagher Namazi, Emad Sharghi, and Morad Tahbaz who was detained with a group of Iranian environmentalists. Why are so many dual-nationals in prison? Why havent they been released yet?

JZ: Well it is interesting that you only name dual-nationals that are imprisoned in Iran and not dual-nationals that are imprisoned in the United States. There are quite a large number of them imprisoned in the United States purely for sanctions violations. One is being harassed today and for the past two months treated like a criminal because he wrote articles about Iran and provided consultation to our mission in New York. [Kaveh Afrasiabi is accused of being an unregistered lobbyist.] So this is not a one-sided situation. Unfortunately, the United States has been treating Iranian-Americans in the United States in a discriminatory way in addition to preventing, in the Muslim ban, Iranians from even coming to the United States and visiting their relatives. Now hopefully President Biden has lifted that [travel ban] but continues to imprison Iranians for

NM: But why is it also happening in Iran?

JZ: The United States says that these people violated the law. Our judiciary says that these people violated the law. I have proposed that as foreign minister I can intervene only if I can have an exchange. So what we want to do is to exchange those Iranian-Americans with these Iranian-Americans. All of them are Iranian-Americans. And I made that proposal in September 2018

NM: That was under President Trump. Are there any talks going on right now for exchanges?

JZ: Unfortunately not. We havent received any proposals. But we have said we are prepared for a universal exchange of all Iranian prisoners, Iranian-Americans and other Iranians who are imprisoned in Europe, imprisoned at the United States request in Africa and elsewhere, waiting for extradition or being unduly punished, and we will release people who are in here in prison charged with crimes. And I'm not in the judiciary and not privy to the information the judge was privy to, so I cannot judge the decision of a judge and a court. So lets leave it at that. There are prisoners in the United States, there are prisoners in Iran and elsewhere. We can exchange them all.

NM: President Biden is also interested in follow-on negotiations, beyond the JCPOA, about other issues including Irans ballistic missile program, its regional presence, and he has even talked about human rights. Is Iran open to discuss any of these issues with the United States?

JZ: The ballistic missiles issue and the regional issue were discussed in the JCPOA. And the decisions we reached in the JCPOA reflects our discussions. The fact that the P5+1 decided to continue the restrictions on arms to Iran for five years [in a separate 2015 arms embargo], which just ended last October, the fact that they decided to continue restrictions on missiles for eight years until confidence is built about the purely peaceful nature of our nuclear program, these are all addressed in the JCPOA. The problem with the United States and its Western allies is that when they deal with something and it's not to their 100 percent satisfaction, they want to re-open. We dealt with all these issues... we had shouting matches about these, but we dealt with it. And the outcome was what we have in front of us. The Supreme Leader here in Iran said very clearly that if the United States were to pass the test of JCPOA, then Iran would consider other issues.

But the United States miserably failed, not only during the Trump administration but even during the past two months of the Biden administration.

So if the U.S. passes the test of JCPOA, which doesnt seem very likely, then we can consider other issues. But I dont think the U.S. would be prepared to discuss those issues. Is the U.S. ready to reduce its arms shipments to the region? Twenty-five percent of the entire arms sales to the world are sold to our region, and none of it to Iran. Are the U.S. and its Western allies prepared to stop that? Thats a very lucrative market and I dont think President Biden wants to do that.

Saudi Arabia spends nearly seven times as much as Iran on weapons. Are they prepared to bring that down? Because its not [just] about Iranian disarmament. If its about regional issues, are U.S. allies prepared to do their share? Is Saudi Arabia prepared to stop its aggression in Yemen? Is Saudi Arabia prepared to stop supporting terrorists in Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan? These are very open questions that will be asked. But we have said very clearly that we are prepared to talk to our neighbors in the region. The six countries in GCC [the Gulf Cooperation Council] plus Iran and Iraq are the countries in the Persian Gulf region, and we're always ready to talk among the eight countries of the Persian Gulf.

NM: Talking about the GCC, there is a growing alliance between Israel and some of the GCC countries. How has this affected Irans calculations in the region?

JZ: It unfortunately affects their security calculation, and let me explain what I mean. Some of our neighbors in the Persian Gulf have always tried to buy security through proxies. Their proxy at one time was Saddam Hussein, more recently it was Trump, and now they want Netanyahu to be their proxy. Obviously it doesn't work. It didnt work with Saddam Hussein, it didnt work with Trump, and it certainly will not work with Netanyahu. What Netanyahu will do is to bring the war to their territory. And I think they are badly mistaken in doing that. But we are prepared to talk to our neighbors and even suggested to them, three-four years ago, a regional security arrangement; we suggested to them a non-aggression pact; we suggested the HOPE initiative (the Hormuz Peace initiative). All of these are on the table, and the countries in the Southern part of the Persian Gulf can decide to come back to the region. I can assure them that Benjamin Netanyahu can hardly keep himself out of prison, let alone provide them with security.

NM: And some of these GCC countries want their Western allies, especially the United States, to be present. Are you willing to sit down with everyone at the table to discuss reducing tensions in the region?

JZ: We believe that tension in the region is caused by the presence of foreign forces and they are not the cure; they are the malady. We are prepared to talk to our neighbors. The United Nations can provide an umbrella under UNSC Resolution 598, which gives our neighbors in the southern Persian Gulf the assurance that there will be an international umbrella.

NM: Iran was one of the first countries hit by the virus in the region. Its the epicenter of the pandemic in the Middle East, with nearly 2 million cases and over 60,000 deaths officially reported. Where are you getting the vaccines; from which countries? And what is your timeline or plan for vaccinating the entire population?

JZ: We started vaccinating the population a couple of weeks ago, started with health professionals, and continue with medical workers and the elderly and people in the vulnerable segments of the population. Unfortunately sanctions by the U.S., whether they admit it or not, have prevented Iran from making its payments into Covax. It delayed our payments into this global facility for vaccines by about four months. We finally did it in January, but that delayed the process.

Right now, our medical community, the equivalent of your FDA, has agreed on an emergency basis to accept the Sputnik vaccine and the Sinopharm vaccine, and Sinovac is in the process of being approved. We have three Iranian vaccines undergoing second- and third-phase trials. The vaccine co-produced between our Pasteur Institute, a 100-year-old vaccine production facility in Iran, and Cuban pharmaceuticals is now ready for its final trial phase and hopefully mass-vaccination.

It is regrettable that the West is hoarding vaccines, and its an issue in the international community while during this pandemic, countries outside the West are hardly having access to any vaccine. This pandemic has to be addressed globally; you cannot address it locally, and unfortunately, just like in other cases, the West doesnt see it that way.

NM: Well there's also an order from the Supreme Leader banning certain Western vaccines, especially those produced in the United States and the UK. How does that come into play when you talk about the West and vaccines?

JZ: There is a debate in the medical community. The decision by the Supreme Leader was not initiated by him. There were requests from the medical community about genetically modified vaccines, that are called mRNA, and Pfizer and Moderna are of that type. But we are getting other vaccines under Covax, we are getting AstraZeneca, which is a Swedish-British vaccine, we are getting Indian-British vaccines.

NM: And finally, there are rumors that you may be the reform candidate for the presidential election in June. Will you run for president?

JZ: I will not.

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What It Will Take to Break the U.S.-Iran Impasse: A Q&A With Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif - POLITICO