Diplomats involved in nuclear negotiations in Vienna shared details of a draft deal on February 17. The draft outlines steps parties will take to bring them back into compliance with the JCPOA. Initially, Iran would stop enriching uranium above 5% purity and release Western prisoners held in Iran, and the United States would unfreeze $7 billion of frozen Iranian funds held abroad. Subsequent steps would include the United States issuing sanctions waivers permitting Iran to export its oil and Iran abiding by a 3.67% enrichment cap. The stages would culminate in a Re-Implementation Day one to three months from an agreement on the proposed deal. According to unnamed officials, Iran seeks to include a measure that would allow it to resume enriching uranium to 60% if the United States violates the new deal.
News Briefs
February 17, 2022
-- Reuters
February 10, 2022
Iranian crude exports exceeded 1 million bpd between December 2021 and January 2022 for the first time in three years, according to industry sources. Most of the oil was sold to China. In January, China officially reported Iranian oil imports for the first time in a year. Total Iranian oil exports in January were the highest since 2019, when the United States ended sanctions waivers for countries that imported Iranian oil, but were still far below the 2.5 million bpd shipped prior to the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions in 2018.
-- Reuters
February 9, 2022
On February 9, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unveiled a new ballistic missile with a claimed range of 1,450 kilometers. According to Iranian state media, the "Kheibar Shekan" missile uses a solid-fuel engine and domestically manufactured components.
-- Reuters
February 4, 2022
On February 4, the United States restored waivers that shield foreign companies working on certain civilian nuclear projects in Iran from U.S. sanctions. The waivers permit work at nuclear facilities in Bushehr, Arak, and at the Tehran Research Reactor and apply to companies from the European Union, China, and Russia. The Trump administration had rescinded the waivers in May 2020, two years after withdrawing the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
-- Associated Press
January 31, 2022
Iran moved centrifuge manufacturing equipment from the TESA Karaj plant to Isfahan in late January, just over a month after agreeing to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to access the Karaj plant. Iranian officials notified the IAEA of the move on January 19 and allowed the Agency to install cameras at the Isfahan facility five days later. The Agency also placed seals on the remaining equipment in Karaj and removed its cameras there. The IAEA noted in a confidential report that production at Karaj had ceased and that the Isfahan facility had not yet begun production as of January 24.
-- Reuters
January 31, 2022
Iran has allowed the IAEA to set up monitoring cameras in a new centrifuge manufacturing plant in Isfahan but will not allow the agency to view any footage or access the plant before a final deal is reached on restoring the JCPOA, according to Iran's ambassador to international organizations in Vienna.
-- PressTv
January 22, 2022
Russia presented Iran with a draft interim nuclear agreement as part of ongoing negotiations to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) but was initially rebuffed, according to two U.S. officials. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, if Iran stopped enriching uranium to 60% purity and disposed of its current stockpile, it would be allowed to access billions of dollars in oil revenue currently frozen in offshore accounts. The draft deal would also restrict Iran's 20% enriched uranium program and its use of advanced centrifuges for six months, with the possibility of extension and greater sanctions relief as time went on. The United States was aware of the proposal. Iran's mission to the United Nations said on January 21 that Iran does not want an interim deal.
-- NBC News
January 21, 2022
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) announced on January 21 that it has begun negotiating the construction of two new units at the Bushehr nuclear power plant with Russia. Russia built Bushehr's first unit, a 1,000 megawatt reactor, in 2013. The announcement follows a visit by Iran's president to Moscow.
-- Reuters/AFP
January 20, 2022
Iranian delegations have visited Myanmar at least twice since the country underwent a military coup in February 2021, according to diplomats based in Southeast Asia. Flight data showed that a plane operated by the Iranian carrier Qeshm Fars Air landed in Myanmar on January 13 and departed a day later. Qeshm Fars Air is sanctioned by the United States for ferrying weapons from Iran to Syria on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and the plane that landed in Myanmar was one of two aircraft specifically designated by the United States in 2019 for arms trafficking. A member of Myanmar's deposed civilian government said that the flights from Iran to Myanmar are "related to military technology."
-- Asia Times
January 15, 2022
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) tested a solid-fuel space rocket engine on January 13, according to the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force. According to Hajizadeh, the satellite carrier was constructed out of a composite material lighter than metal, which would enable the engine to launch heavier payloads into orbit. Footage shows that the test took place on the ground. Satellite carriers usually use liquid fuel, whereas solid fuel is more often associated with ballistic missiles.
-- Associated Press