Top Iranian diplomat suggests flexibility to restore nuclear deal

Iran’s top diplomat said on Saturday that the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard accepted the idea of continuing to be sanctioned by the US if it meant the restoration of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian’s remark in a state television interview may signal a possible opening over the stalemated Vienna talks. It also appeared timed for a visit on Sunday by a European Union diplomat involved in the negotiations.

Sanctions on the Guard have been one of the remaining sticking points over restoring the tattered nuclear deal, outside of Russia’s demand at the eleventh hour of guarantees over its trade relationship with Iran amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The Guard represents one of the major power bases in the Shiite theocracy and is answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In the interview, Amirabdollahian acknowledged that the Guard sanctions were a topic discussed.

“High-rank Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials in the country always remind us at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a point, and they say that you should do whatever is necessary for the interests of the country,” he said. “If you reach a point where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issue was raised, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issue should not be an obstacle for you.”

He added: “In my opinion, the high-ranking officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are showing and raising their self-sacrifice to the highest level.”

Though later saying that he would not negotiate on the Guard sanctions, the remark on Saturday represents the first time he or any other Iranian official suggested it could be traded away in the negotiations. It came as Spanish diplomat Enrique Mora, who has been the EU’s lead negotiator in the talks, was travelling to Iran for meetings on Sunday.