Raeisi: Iran serious about JCPOA talks, sanctions must be removed

Iran’s president said Tehran is serious about and has adopted a result-oriented approach toward the talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Speaking in a live televised interview on Monday night, Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi added it can be an indication of the other side’s seriousness if it voices its readiness to remove the cruel sanctions.

He vowed that his administration will continue nuclear negotiations over the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Tehran and the P5+1, but will not tie people’s livelihoods to the fate of the deal, IRNA reported.

He stressed, “We will never abandon the negotiating table.”

Under former president Donald Trump, the US pulled out of the JCPOA in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran in a bid to cripple the country’s economy and bring the Islamic Republic to the negotiating table to hammer out a new nuclear deal. Mainly targeting Iran’s oil and banking sectors, the sanctions, however, failed to produce the desired results thanks to the Iranians’ resistance.

In the aftermath of the US withdrawal, three of the European sides to the deal, namely the UK, France and Germany, immediately condemned the move and promised to safeguard Iran’s interests within the JCPOA framework, a pledge they failed to honor.

Disappointed with Europe and its hollow promises, the country, in retaliation, began a phased reduction of its nuclear commitments under the deal as per a strategic action plan to counter the sanctions and safeguard Iranians’ interests approved by the Iranian Parliament in December 2020.

Faced by Iran’s reprisal, the remaining parties to the JCPOA – the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany – began a diplomatic process, with Tehran’s presence, in Vienna since April to restore the deal. After six rounds of talks, the negotiations paused mainly due to a change of administration in Iran.

Commenting on the resumption of the talks, Raeisi noted, “We said when the [new] administration takes office, the negotiations will continue. At present, the Iranian Foreign Ministry is doing the follow-up on the issue.”

“We are committed to what we said and are serious. The other side is also required to be serious. In the talks we held a few days ago with the European Union’s representatives in Tehran, we said that the Islamic Republic is serious and that we need to see the other side’s seriousness.”

Source: Iran Daily