Tehran: Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said that no specific message has been sent or received between Iran and the US regarding the holding of nuclear negotiations.
In an address to reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting, Araghchi said on Wednesday that talks between Iran and Britain, France, and Germany are going on and that Iran is waiting for the United States to determine its policies and position, following which Iran would consider them and make its decision, according to a report by the official news agency IRNA.
“If the country comes to the conclusion that the possibility exists for holding negotiations on equal terms, we will decide about that,” he said.
“The basis and criterion for us is still the same distrust that existed in the past, which still pervades the relations between the two countries,” he said, adding, “We reached an agreement in the past. Iran implemented the agreement, but they were the ones who scrapped it.”
Resolving that distrust is not easy nor possible solely by using “good and beautiful” words, he said, underscoring that practical actions and clear policies are required to that end.
Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions. The United States, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to scale back its commitments under the deal, Xinhua news agency reported.
The talks to revive the JCPOA began in April 2021 in Vienna, Austria. Despite several rounds of talks, no significant breakthrough has been achieved.
Iran engaged in 18 months of indirect negotiations with the Biden administration between 2021 and 2022 to restore the United States’ participation in the JCPOA after Trump unilaterally exited the agreement in 2018, imposing harsh sanctions on Iran. However, the Vienna talks ended without a deal, particularly after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The conflict raised questions about whether Tehran genuinely sought an agreement or aimed to ease sanctions.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, said on Monday that Tehran is consulting on President Donald Trump’s policies toward Iran and has developed strategies and plans to address them.
(IANS)
