October 08, 2021
Iran has demoted its chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, replacing him as deputy foreign minister with an opponent of concessions to the West.
Many analysts said the reshuffle was intended as a warning that a much tougher policy could lie ahead in the talks.
Araqchi has been replaced as deputy minister by Ali Bagheri, a protege of President Raisi who served as his deputy for international affairs when Raisi was Judiciary chief. Araqchi will now become a mere adviser to the foreign minister.
Bagheri, 53, has repeatedly criticized Rohani for the limits he accepted on Iran’s nuclear activities and his willingness to grant “foreigners” access to Iranian nuclear plants and other “sensitive security facilities.” Bagheri was a member of the nuclear negotiating team during the Ahmadi-nejad Administration.
Bagheri is the son of Ayatollah Mohammad-Baqer Bagheri-Kani, once a member of the Assembly of Experts, the body that elects the Supreme Leader when that office falls vacant.
Analyst Mehdi Zakerian said the appointment put Iran’s nuclear policy firmly in the hands of ultraconservatives close to Raisi.
“In the Raisi Administration, the key personalities at the negotiating table are now Iranian Atomic Energy Organization chief Mohammad Eslami and Ali Bagheri,” Zakerian told Agence France Presse (AFP).
“Bagheri’s appointment should be seen as a clear warning to the West as it’s likely the new team will throw into question the whole basis of the nuclear deal and abandon all of Iran’s commitments if the Americans delay their return to the 2015 agreement.” But it is Iran that has declined to schedule any talks since June, not the United States.
After Raisi became president in August, Iran suggested that indirect negotiations with Washington on its return to the deal were unlikely to resume for two to three months.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that time was running out for a deal that must also tackle Iran’s retaliatory suspension of many of its own commitments.