IRGC Commander: West’s Change of Tone Resulted from Iran’s Success in 20% Enrichment

Lieutenant Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Hossein Salami said the western states changed their behavior towards Iran’s nuclear program from an imperative mood to a begging mood after Tehran gained access to above 20 percent uranium enrichment capability.

“Before achieving the 20 percent uranium enrichment, the Europeans and representatives of the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) were telling our (negotiating) team proudly and arrogantly that we did not have the technology and capability to enrich uranium to higher levels, and advised us that we would be better off if we gave up enrichment to break the sanctions instead of insisting on this technology,” General Salami told FNA on Tuesday.

The IRGC lieutenant commander said the western countries sometimes said that Iran was not in a position to have access to nuclear technology and that this issue only belonged to the developed world and even if Iran could gain access to it, it still wouldn’t be able to turn and establish it in the form of a technology.

“However, when the martyred nuclear scientist Shahriyari gave us access to 20 percent enrichment and they realized this and martyred him, all their imperative, bold and boastful talks changed into request and begging,” General Salami said.

Salami pointed to the Sunday deal between Iran and the six world powers and said “this is just the beginning of a process. We think about a comprehensive agreement and believe that they should lift all sanctions in lieu of the flexibility we have displayed, otherwise this path is reversible”.

On Monday, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi underlined that all the western sanctions imposed against Iran should be removed.

Boroujerdi pointed to the pledges made by the Group 5+1 concerning the removal of some Western sanctions against Iran, and said, “Removal of this part of the sanctions is not sufficient at all and from the Parliament’s point of view removal of all sanctions is a serious urgency and what has taken place is among our national demands.”

He reiterated that the unilateral sanctions and resolutions that came into effect by the Americans and then the Europeans outside the UN framework should be removed very soon.

“The reality on the ground shows that the curve of the sanctions has started a downward trend,” the senior legislator said, but meantime added that the partial removal of the sanctions decided during the Geneva talks will also have some good effects for the Iranian economy as well.

Boroujerdi underlined that the Iranian parliament strongly defends Iran’s nuclear rights, and said that the interim conditions to be exercised in the next six months should not be turned into permanent rules.

On Sunday, Iran and the Group 5+1 reached a final deal after days of difficult and intensive negotiations and a decade-long nuclear standoff.

The deal includes removal of a part of the US-led West’s sanctions against Iran’s crude supplies, petrochemical exports and part of the banking operations, including the pay-back of Iran’s crude export revenues.

According to the deal, no further sanctions will be imposed against Iran. Iran’s crude sales will be maintained at the current level and Iran’s oil revenues will also be released.

Sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical sector will be completely removed and the sanctions on the country’s auto industry will also be lifted.

Sanctions on imports and exports of gold and precious metals, as well as the ban on the insurance of transportation and shipping services will be fully lifted as well.