Could Iran’s Nuclear Talks Make Real Progress?

Iran’s minister of petroleum Javad Owji said the world needed more Iranian oil, and that his country was ready to play a role in providing it away from politics, the Iranian oil ministry’s news agency SHANA reported on Monday.

On Monday also, Iran’s foreign minister held a phone call with his Qatari counterpart to discuss the latest developments regarding the ongoing talks concerning the attempted revival the 2015 nuclear deal.

In this way, heavily dark geopolitical clouds are still making the background of any return of Iranian oil to the markets as top Iranian conservative close to the Supreme Leader has said that the nuclear talks with the West are useless and Iran should exit the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Iranian Fars news website published an interview with Hossein Shariatmadari, chief editor of the hardliner Kayhan Daily, slamming the nuclear negotiations as a Western trick and recommending to quit the proposed pact.

Other prominent political figures such as Ali Khezrian, a member of parliament from the hardliner Paydari Front, in a note published by media, quoted specific clauses of what he claimed to be the new draft nuclear deal, arguing that it is “a weak agreement for Iran”.

On Monday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani reiterated Tehran’s harder position in the nuclear talks, insisting on guarantees and an end to a probe into its past activities.

On August 31, Washington called Iran’s latest response “not constructive”, as soon as it was delivered on the same day.

OPEC+ is worried about slipping prices, weak demand in China and a deal with Iran. Officials of OPEC and its major allies agreed on Monday to modestly cut oil production by 100,000 barrels a day, rolling back the increase they approved a month ago.

Cheaper prices are a political win for US President Biden, as falling fuel costs have brought down overall inflation. But experts are unsure that the low prices will last, as oil prices are volatile and determined by myriad forces, many of which are hard to predict.

Whether a deal will be reached over Iran’s nuclear program could eventually release Iranian oil on the market. Iran is both a member of OPEC+ and a rival of Saudi Arabia.