A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday demanded that the US lift sanctions imposed on Iran as part of the talks on a return to the 2015 nuclear deal and also reassure Iran it will not abandon the deal again.
The spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said according to Russia Today, that Washington “must guarantee that no administration in the United States mocks the world and international law and does not repeat these behaviors” of withdrawing from agreements.
As well, he stressed, “they must lift the oppressive sanctions completely and effectively.”
“Iran will not stop its compensatory actions until it is confident that US sanctions will be lifted in an effective and verifiable manner with the necessary and objective guarantees,” the spokesman warned.
Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.
The previous Iranian government, headed by former President Hassan Rouhani, had been holding indirect talks with the Biden administration on a return to the agreement.
The negotiations were adjourned on June 20, two days after Ebrahim Raisi won Iran’s presidential election.
Last week, an Iranian diplomat said that the negotiations will restart November 29 in Vienna.
Iran told Russia on Saturday that Western governments should be “realistic” when nuclear talks resume later this month and not to exceed the bounds of the 2015 deal they are seeking to revive.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said last week, after Iran announced the resumption of talks, that negotiations should pick up exactly where they left off and expressed optimism that outstanding issues could be resolved swiftly.
“We’ve said this many times before, but we believe it remains possible to quickly reach and implement an understanding on a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA by closing the relatively small number of issues that remained outstanding at the end of June when the sixth round concluded,” Price said.
He warned, however, that the US feels time is running short to reach an agreement.
“We believe that if the Iranians are serious, we can manage to do that in relatively short order, but we’ve also been clear, including as this pause has dragged on for some time, that this window of opportunity will not be open forever, and that, especially if Iran continues to take provocative nuclear steps,” Price stated.