US Cannot Have It Both Ways at JCPOA Revival Talks - Iran FM

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Washington’s unilateral demands at the high-profile negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran deal are in contradiction with its claims that it sincerely seeks an agreement.

Amir Abdollahian wrote in a tweet on Tuesday night that Iran remains ready to negotiate a strong and durable agreement, and it is now up to the US to make a political decision on whether it is willing to honor the officially-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA].

The top Iranian diplomat made the comments after a phone conversation with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

He further said that an agreement is possible “only based on mutual understanding and interests.”

Iran and the US attended indirect talks in Doha last week, days after Borrell visited Tehran seeking to break an impasse in the multilateral talks, which had resulted in a months-long pause.

The talks initially began in the Austrian capital, Vienna, in April 2021 with the aim of bringing the US back into the JCPOA and removing its unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Tehran has blamed Washington for indecisiveness and a lack of initiative on numerous occasions, the latest of which has been in the aftermath of the Doha talks.

“We believe that repeating previous stances should not replace political initiatives,” Amir Abdollahian said on Sunday, in a telephone conversation with his French counterpart, Catherine Colonna.