As the talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal enters
the sixth round in Vienna, Austria, involving the signatories to the deal, Iran
does not seem to have lost its hope for
the sanctions being lifted, despite the mixed signals that come from Tehran.
There are plenty of indications to support the idea
that Iran does want to see an end to the international sanctions so that it can
once again become a serious player in the international energy markets.
The production of crude oil, as shown by many reliable
sources, for instance, has not suffered due to uncertainty over the final
outcome of the talks in Vienna; on the contrary, Iran has been ramping up the
production for months.
The Iranian ambassador to India, meanwhile, has offered
India one of its key ports in the Persian Gulf as a base for the strategic oil
reserves of the latter and a standalone gas pipeline.
Iran has been instrumental in forming ‘quadrilaterals’
and ‘trilateral’ with its immediate neighbours, numbering four and three
respectively for some time, in order to encourage the flow of investment.
The trilateral involving India, Iran and Uzbekistan
is a case in point; the three countries in question plan to use Chabahar Port
in a collective manner as part of this initiative.
The Iranian team in Vienna, meanwhile, showed
optimism again in the latest round of talks; although they admit the presence
of thorny issues, the tone was much more conciliatory, this time.
The political analysts believe that the
near-certainty of a hard-line conservative being elected at the presidential
election next week, will not derail the talks over the JCPOA, as stakes are
really high for Iran, if it chooses to go down that path.
