TEHRAN -- A total of 160 Iranian MPs on Sunday called on the country’s negotiating team not to accept artificial deadlines set by the West for the finalization of the Vienna talks on removal of sanctions on Tehran.
In a joint statement, the MPs said the negotiators should not constrain themselves to fictitious deadlines, urging them to resiliently defend national interests and strongly observe the country’s declared red lines.
“Now that the [Russia-Ukraine] crisis has heightened the West’s need for Iran’s energy supplies, a decrease in crude oil prices should not occur before the United States meets Iran’s legitimate demands,” the statement read.
“We urge the negotiating team to seriously pursue sufficient economic, technical and political guarantees from the United States in order to ensure that the country will not repeat its illegal exit from the [Iran] deal once again.”
The MPs also said preservation of the basic elements of Iran’s civilian nuclear program is the strongest guarantee against Washington repeating its previous mistakes.
The negotiators are also required to seek indemnities from the U.S. for the losses which it has inflicted on the livelihood of Iranians, they said.
Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian criticized the United States for raising “new” issues in the talks.
In a phone conversation with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Iranian minister said Tehran is making utmost efforts to reach a “good, strong and lasting” agreement, but Washington is hampering it.
Negotiators have reached the final stages of 11 months of discussions to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.