TEHRAN (Bazaar) – Professor Paul Pillar, who was CIA intelligence analyst for 28 years, says Oman is well-positioned to facilitate this kind of communication.
Pillar told Bazaar news agency that Oman already had played a role in facilitating the contacts that led to the original negotiation of the JCPOA.
Following is the text of the interview:
Q: Robert Malley recently said that his duty is to protect the interests of America and not to issue an obituary notice. Based on this, he announced that the JCPOA is not dead yet. These words seem to be a reaction to Biden's argument about the “death of the JCPOA”. What is your assessment?
A: Malley's remark clearly was an effort to limit damage from Biden's open-microphone comment about the JCPOA being dead. The administration never wanted a remark like that from the president to have become public.
Q: Josep Borrell and Hossein Amirabdollahian have also recently held consultations to start nuclear negotiations. Iran's foreign minister has also visited Oman. It seems that consultations are underway to start negotiations. Do you think the negotiations will start soon?
A: I am still not optimistic about real negotiations--as distinct from preliminary consultations--resuming anytime soon.
Q: Christofer Burger, the spokeswoman of the German Foreign Ministry, recently announced that there is no reason to start JCPOA negotiations at this moment. What is your assessment of her words while we are witnessing a consultation between Borrell and Amirabdallahian to prepare the ground for the beginning of negotiations?
A: It is a realistic assessment of the state of diplomacy on the issue. There is no contradiction between being realistic in offering that kind of judgment, and to have exploratory consultations to see what might be feasible anyway.
Q: It seems that Oman is once again trying to create an understanding between Iran and the United States regarding nuclear negotiations. Meanwhile, other countries such as Qatar have also made continuous efforts in this regard. How do you evaluate the role of Oman in this regard?
A: Oman is well-positioned to facilitate this kind of communication. Oman already had played a role in facilitating the contacts that led to the original negotiation of the JCPOA.
Q: Abolfazl Amoui, the spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian parliament, has said: reaching an agreement is not far because there is one issue and a few phrases left in the text of the agreement. One of these cases is the discussion of cooperation between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency. What is your assessment of his words?
A: A statement would be meaningful if it indicated that Iran was dropping its demand about the safeguards issue as a precondition for reinstating the JCPOA. This statement does not do that.
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