TEHRAN – After intensive meetings and consultations, Iran finally submitted its response to the text the European Union submitted to Iran and called it a “final” draft. 

Iran’s chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani, provided a detailed report to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) in a meeting attended by top officials, including the secretary of the council, Ali Shamkhani. 

After holding brainstorming sessions, Iran submitted its final draft on the 2015 nuclear deal revival talks, which have been ongoing since April 2021. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian offered some details on the content of the Iranian response. He said three issues were still pending. “We told America that if our opinions on these three issues, which are reasonable opinions, are respected, we are ready to enter the stage of announcing an agreement and hold a conclusion meeting,” Amir Abdollahian said on Monday hours before submitting the Iranian response. 

The Iranian answer to the EU draft came amid Iranian calls for the U.S. to show flexibility. The Iranian foreign minister has said that Iran showed much flexibility and America knows that full well. “America knows very well how much flexibility we have shown, now it is the turn of the American side to be flexible. In the recent Vienna negotiations, the American side expressed its verbal flexibility on two issues. This should be in writing. In the third issue and guarantees, we must have America's flexibility. If America shows flexibility, we will reach a point of agreement in the coming days,” he said.

After submitting the response, Iran continued its internal consultations. The SNSC hosted a meeting of the members of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on Tuesday. Shamkhani, Amir Abdollahian, and Bagheri Kani attended the meeting. And on Wednesday, a closed session of Parliament was held with the same officials to discuss the situation around the talks in Vienna over reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Alireza Salimi, a member of Parliament’s presiding board, offered some details about the Wednesday session. “We have presented our proposed package regarding the agreement, and the ball is now in the court of America and the West, and they are the ones who should make the appropriate decision regarding the agreement,” he told Fars News.

He also said that any agreement being achieved in Vienna should be passed by Parliament. 

As things stand, Iran appears to have done its part and made every necessary decision needed to resuscitate the JCPOA. Therefore, it’s now the U.S.’s turn to do the same and facilitate the conclusion of the talks. 

The U.S. confirmed that it has received the Iranian response via the EU and said that it will need “some time” to study it. 

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday, “We are still studying [the response].”

He added, “It will require some time to digest what has been provided to the EU and in turn what has been provided to us.”

While Iran has said it was serious about concluding the talks, Price sought to cast doubt on Iran’s seriousness. “It is our hope that as we have now approached what should be the final stage of this, that the Iranians will demonstrate seriousness of purpose that we have not consistently seen until now,” he said.

However, he acknowledged that the talks include a set of challenging technical issues that need to be dealt with. Price said, “These are not simple issues. There are some challenging technical details that would need to be worked out.”

Whether the U.S. will agree with the Iranian response remains an open question. But it seems that the U.S. is less interested in concluding the talks than engaging in a blame game against Iran.