US Envoy to Iran Not 'Confident' About Reaching Agreement in New Nuclear Deal Soon

The United States' special envoy to Iran on Sunday said that he was not "confident" that a new nuclear deal between the two nations could be reached in the near future after 11 months of negotiations have been stalled due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

During the Doha Forum international conference held in Qatar, Robert Malley said that he was not confident enough to say that an agreement was imminent. He argued that a few months ago, the U.S. and Iran were close to reaching a new deal.

US Envoy on Iran Nuclear Deal

The official said that in any negotiations if there were any issues remaining after an extended period of discussions, it suggested the difficulty of bridging the gap. However, Malley's assessment of the deal came in contrast to an Iranian official's remarks.

During the conference, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Sayyid Kamal Kharrazi, said that an agreement between the two nations was imminent. He argued that the deal was dependent on the political will of the United States federal government, as per the New York Post.

On Sunday, Kharrazi said that a national army cannot be listed as a terrorist group and argued that it was important for Iranians to have the IRGC removed from the list. In 2019, former United States President Donald Trump designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

The incident came one year after the Republican businessman pulled the United States out of the original nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. On the other hand, President Joe Biden's administration has been struggling to restore the agreement in the last year but the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 threw off the timeline.

According to Fox News, Moscow has demanded that the country's trade with Iran remain unaffected by Western sanctions. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently suggested that the concerns had already been overcome.

Security Threat

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged the United States to listen to calls against any removal of the Revolutionary Guards from the U.S. terrorism blacklist. In a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Bennett said that his government was concerned about the intention to delist the IRGC. He hoped that the U.S. will hear the concerned voices from the region, Israel, and others.

On the other hand, Tehran has been pushing for guarantees that any future president of the United States would no longer withdraw from a future agreement. Many of the U.S.'s allies in the Gulf along with Israel remain concerned that Iran is a security threat.

Israel's foreign minister said on Sunday that his country and the United States will continue to work together to ensure that a nuclear-armed Iran is prevented. During a joint press conference with Blinken, Yair Lapid said that Israel had disagreements about the negotiations with Iran and their consequences. However, he noted that open and honest dialogue was part of the process of strengthening the countries' friendship and relations, Reuters reported.