What are Iran’s ‘nine principles’ of deal-making in US-Iran nuclear talks?

[Almost Heaven]

Iran’s Ali Shamkhani, the political adviser to the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has shared the nine principles guiding Tehran’s policy on a possible deal with the United States.

Iran laying the principles openly on the table is interesting, and they also seem to represent a view closer to Khamenei, who has been suspicious of a deal with the US. He has said Iran shouldn’t trust Washington again after it walked away from the 2015 deal.

What are the principles? They include nine concepts that deserve to be explored.

Principle one: Seriousness​

Iran wants the talks to be serious and for both sides to take them seriously. The Islamic Republic does not want to be misled, and the US doesn’t want to waste time. Tehran likely would not have entered the talks unless it believed they were serious, and it initially preferred indirect talks to gauge whether US President Donald Trump’s administration was serious.

Principle two: Assurance​

It is not entirely clear what this means. However, a recent article in The Guardian noted that Russia could gain a role in the talks. It also reported, “Iran believes it has received assurances that the US objective is not the entire dismantling of its nuclear program.

“Before the Rome talks, in an intervention that sowed confusion in Iran and the US, Witkoff had on social media seemed to endorse such an objective, causing consternation in Iran, but in Rome, he gave the impression that this was largely domestic political messaging.” Assurance may refer to this aspect of the deal.

Read more of this excellent analysis...https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-850966