Raisi's Comments May Not Be As Downbeat On Deal As First Seemed

Earlier today, comments made by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a televised speech commemorating the 43rd anniversary of the 1979 Iranian Revolution were widely reported as signalling Tehran's view that reaching a compromise on the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPoA) was unlikely.

• Raisi reported to have said Iran 'never has hope' of reviving the deal at the Vienna talks, saying '“We put our hopes in the east, west, north, south of our country and never have hope in Vienna and New York".
• However, Leila Gharagozlou at UAE-based The National tweets: "This is a good example of comments that are badly translated & not contextualized. 1. Raisi actually said that Iran is putting more "hope" & work into more regional allies- not the west because the Biden admin has not changed its policies, still follow Trump policies. 2. These comments although said today are not new. He has said these comments before as has the Foreign Minister. 3. One of the main tenets of the Raisi admin and hardliners has been to look eastward- this again nothing new. 4. He also said this: Sending a comprehensive team to the talks shows Iran's serious will to advance diplomacy."