The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry says no agreement will be struck through the Vienna talks on the revival of the 2015 Iran deal until there is total consensus on the main issues of contention.
“We will not agree on anything until we agree on the generalities,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday, hinting at an impasse in the course of multilateral talks that began over a year ago in Vienna.
Khatibzadeh said that certain issues remain unresolved and that the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will not be subjected to any changes under a new agreement that would resuscitate the deal.
“We can say an agreement [in Vienna] is at hand once the remaining issues are resolved,” he said, adding, “What is being negotiated in Vienna is in compliance with the JCPOA. Both the deal and the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 are the benchmarks for the talks. Messages are being exchanged between Tehran and Washington via [European Union deputy foreign policy chief Enrique] Mora.”
‘Washington pursuing policy of procrastination’
Khatibzadeh went on to describe the atmosphere of the Vienna talks as positive, noting that Tehran and the P4+1 group of countries — Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China — have done everything they could and are now waiting for a proper response from Washington to address the existing concerns.
“Washington has adopted a policy of procrastination,” the Iranian diplomat lamented. “[But] the atmosphere of the Vienna talks is still appropriate to resurrect the JCPOA.”
Negotiations have been held in the Austrian capital since April last year to restore the 2015 Iran deal, which was ditched by former US President Donald Trump in May 2018.
In quitting the agreement, Trump introduced what he called the “maximum pressure” campaign to bring Iran to its knees. Tehran maintains that the policy has failed dismally. The Joe Biden administration agrees, yet it has not taken any tangible steps to deliver on its promise of repealing the policy.
In recent months, Iran has cited Washington’s indecisiveness as the reason behind the protraction of the talks, as a number of key issues remain unresolved, ranging from the removal of all post-JCPOA sanctions to the provision of guarantees by the American side that it will not leave the deal again.
Release of Iran’s assets has nothing to do with US: Khatibzadeh
Elsewhere during the press conference, Khatibzadeh stressed that the release of Iran’s frozen funds has nothing to do with any third party, including the United States.
He slammed Washington’s efforts to interfere in issues related to Iran and drew a contrast between the conduct of US officials and President Joe Biden’s claim that Washington is ready to rejoin the JCPOA.
“What we are doing is certainly in the interests of the Iranian nation,” the spokesman said.
Source: Iranian media (edited by Al-Manar English Website)
