TEHRAN -- Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said Monday Iran will not allow any foreign factor to impact the ongoing negotiations in Vienna aimed at removing anti-Iran sanctions and reviving the landmark 2015 deal.
He made the remarks in a meeting to brief Iranian MPs on the latest developments, especially with regard to the Vienna talks between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries.
Amir-Abdollahian said Iran welcomes the conclusion of a “good and strong” agreement, stressing, however, that Tehran will not back down on its redlines in the negotiations.
The minister said of utmost importance is to get “effective economic guarantees” and maximize realization of the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran through any possible agreement.
“While standing fast on our redlines, we will not allow any foreign factor affect the country’s national interests in the Vienna talks for the removal of sanctions,” he said.
Amir-Abdollahian’s comments came after his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, said on Saturday that Moscow was demanding written guarantees from Washington before backing the Iran deal, citing the current wave of Western sanctions his country.
Reflecting on Lavrov’s remarks earlier on Monday, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said, “Russia’s approach has been constructive to date and we have gathered in Vienna to reach a collective agreement. We are waiting for them to give us more details if they have.”
Commenting on reports of Russia’s withdrawal from the JCPOA that have been circulated on social media, Khatibzadeh noted that, “We don’t have reliable news on this issue, but China and Russia have so far acted responsibly.”
Iran says it won’t settle for anything less than the removal of all U.S. sanctions in a verifiable manner. It also wants guarantees that Washington would not abandon the agreement again.
Russia’s Ambassador to Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan also on Monday reacted to Lavrov’s remarks about demanding written guarantees from the U.S. and said, “There has been a misunderstanding in this regard.”
Speaking in an interview with Tasnim news agency, Dzhagaryan said Russia will give necessary explanation on Lavrov’s remarks to the Iranian side through diplomatic channels.
“We will officially give explanation to Iranian friends in this regard,” the Russian diplomat said.
He also called on the Iranian people not to pay attention to allegations propagated by foreign radio channels.