美国国家公共电台 NPR--U.S. and Iranian delegations fail to reach a deal to restore the Iran nuclear deal

U.S. and Iranian delegations² fail to reach a deal to restore the Iran nuclear deal

Transcript³

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Robert Malley, U.S. special envoy⁴ for Iran, about negotiations⁶ aimed at restoring the deal. The talks were held last week in Doha, Qatar.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

U.S. and Iranian officials recently left Doha, Qatar, after one more round of talks to try to restore the Iran nuclear deal. Both sides left disappointed. The two delegations have been trying for more than a year through indirect talks with European Union officials acting⁷ as intermediaries. The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, leads the delegation¹ from Washington, and he spoke⁸ with our colleague Steve Inskeep about this latest round.

ROBERT MALLEY: The European Union, in its role as coordinator⁹, wanted to try one more effort, at least one more effort, and so they invited both delegations to meet with them in Doha in the hope that the Iranians would show something, some willingness to get to yes. But they seem, at this point, not capable of providing an answer. And so it was a little bit of a - well, more than a little bit of a wasted occasion, I'd say.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The Iranian foreign minister alleges¹⁰ that the United States side - you, in effect - just repeated the United States' previous position. Is that, in fact, what you did?

MALLEY: Well, let's take a step back and where - look at where we are. The European Union, again, as coordinator, put on the table very detailed¹¹ outlines of what they think a fair outcome would be, and we've said we're prepared to take that deal. The party that has not said yes is Iran. So it's not clear to us when Iran says that we came with old positions. We came with a position which is consistent with what it means to come back into the deal. So, yes, the party that needs to provide an answer now is Iran. And so if they were not prepared to do so, it's unclear why they were prepared to go to Doha.

INSKEEP: I want to make sure that I'm clear on this since it's complicated. The matter here is that the United States pulled out of the nuclear deal and imposed sanctions on Iran. Iran wants the sanctions lifted. The United States wants Iran to come back into compliance¹² with the deal because it's been enriching more uranium and doing other things that would be out of compliance. You're saying that there is a proposal on the table for a timeline to do these things, and the United States has said yes to it. Is that right?

MALLEY: That's basically correct, Steve. It's not 100% finalized¹³. The EU has some more ideas to try to make it more of a final deal. But yes, what they put on the table, we said we're prepared to sign on that basis. We're waiting to see whether Iran can get itself to cross the finish line.

INSKEEP: Has Iran added new demands?

MALLEY: They have and, including in Doha, added demands that I think anyone looking at this would be viewed as having nothing to do with the nuclear deal, things that they've wanted in the past that clearly us and the Europeans and others have said that's not part of this negotiation⁵. The discussion that really needs to take place right now is not so much between us and Iran, although we're prepared to have that; it's between Iran and itself, that they need to come to a conclusion about whether they are now prepared to come back into compliance with the deal, if we're prepared to do the same, and we've said we are.

INSKEEP: Is Iran maybe telling you they're not that interested in resuming the deal?

MALLEY: You know, I don't want to speculate as to what their motivation is. At this point, our assessment¹⁴ is that they haven't made that fundamental decision. Whether they are interested or not, they're going to have to decide sooner or later because at some point the deal will be a thing of the past.

INSKEEP: How much closer is Iran to a nuclear weapon than, say, a year ago or five years ago?

MALLEY: So they're much closer to having enough fissile material for a bomb. To our knowledge, they have not resumed their weaponization program, which is what they would need to develop a bomb. But we're, of course, alarmed, as are our partners, about the progress they've made in the enrichment field, and that's why we think that getting back to the deal is in our nonproliferation interest. We think it's their interest because they'd get sanctions lifted. But, of course, that's an assessment that they alone have to make.

INSKEEP: Do they have enough highly enriched uranium on hand to make a bomb should they choose to do so?

MALLEY: Yes.

INSKEEP: They could begin that at any time, and how long would it take them, do you think?

MALLEY: It would take them a matter of weeks. Again, it would be something that we would know, we would see and to which we would react quite forcefully, as you could imagine.

INSKEEP: How dangerous is this situation?

MALLEY: Well, it's a situation - I have to remind our listeners that it was completely unnecessary. It's a situation we inherited from the last administration, which recklessly decided¹⁵ to withdraw from a deal that was working. Our effort from Day 1 from the Biden administration has been to try to get back in if Iran was prepared to get back in because we knew - and we knew this at the time that the Trump¹⁶ administration withdrew - that this was a recipe for a very dangerous situation. And that's what we're living right now. There still is time to resolve this. There still is time to get back to the deal which was working. We hope that Iran chooses that course. It's the course to which we remain committed.

INSKEEP: A related matter that I know you involve yourself in - how many Americans, U.S. citizens, remain in Iranian custody¹⁷ in Iranian prisons?

MALLEY: So thanks for raising that, Steve. I mean, you know, this is another 4th of July that these four American citizens are going to be separated from their families. It's unconscionable. And yes, we're working on it in parallel to the nuclear talks. We hope that regardless of what happens with the nuclear talks we'll be able to resolve this issue because it weighs on our minds every single day.

INSKEEP: What do the Iranians want in return for those prisoners?

MALLEY: They're asking for things in exchange. You know, the right thing to do would be to let them go because they've not done anything wrong. They're innocent. They've been used as pawns¹⁸. But we are looking at steps that we could take that would facilitate their return in the shortest time possible.

INSKEEP: Rob Malley, thanks so much.

MALLEY: Thank you, Steve.

FADEL: Veteran diplomat¹⁹ Robert Malley is the U.S. special envoy for Iran.

1 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

2 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

5 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

10 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

11 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

12 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

13 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

15 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

16 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

17 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

18 pawns   

n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保

参考例句：

• The hostages are being used as political pawns. 人质正被用作政治卒子。
• The allies would fear that they were pawns in a superpower condominium. 这个联盟担心他们会成为超级大国共管的牺牲品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。