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Iran says success of Vienna talks hinges on getting ‘right answer’ from West

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh

The spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry has stressed that the talks between Iran and the five remaining parties to the 2015 deal can yield a reliable agreement once Tehran receives the “right answer” from the other sides to its rightful demands.

Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh said “We can reach a sustainable, good and reliable agreement” in the shortest possible time if the other parties “give the right answer to Iran’s natural rights as conveyed to them and to the submitted texts and the rightful demands of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

He stressed that the answer must be within the framework of the historic deal officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“The other parties are clearly aware of the disputed issues and they, especially Washington, must make political decisions.”

Regarding the removal of US sanctions, the spokesman noted that “there are still significant and remarkable issues that have made [reaching] an agreement not possible to date.”

The spokesman reiterated that Washington must provide guarantees that it won’t withdraw from the deal once again.

His remarks come as the negotiating delegations are expected to go back to Austria’s capital, Vienna, to resume talks in the coming days.

Multilateral talks have been underway for almost ten months during the administration of Joe Biden, who had vowed to re-enter the JCPOA.

In spite of his criticisms of the “failed maximum pressure” campaign pursued by his predecessor, Biden has not only kept all the sanctions imposed under Donald Trump but has also unleashed new ones.

For that reason, Tehran has continued to reject direct negotiations with the US in Vienna.

Trump launched the maximum pressure policy against Iran in 2018 after he pulled the US out of the JCPOA, claiming he could “get a better deal” than the one reached under his predecessor Barack Obama.

The former American president declared that he intended to compel Iran to negotiate a deal that would restrict the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program and its influence in its own region.

Iran flatly refused to negotiate a “Trump deal” and rejected his repeated calls to hold talks at any level. Amid soaring tensions with the tightening of US sanctions, Iran started in 2019 to reduce its nuclear obligations under the deal as per its contractual rights.

Late in November last year, the JCPOA participants resumed the Vienna talks for the first time under Iran’s new president Ebrahim Raeisi. Since then, Iran has repeatedly emphasized that it seeks a “good agreement” in the Austrian capital.


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