TEHRAN -- The Iranian foreign minister has warned the United States and its European allies against the use of pressure in talks on the revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying Tehran will take reciprocal measures against sanctions and meddlesome.
Hussein Amir-Abdollahian made the remark in a post on his Twitter account late Friday, after a phone conversation with the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on the latest status of stalled negotiations on reviving the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Amir-Abdollahian censured as “wrong” a measure by the U.S. administration and the three European signatories to the JCPOA — France, Germany and the United Kingdom — to use pressure as leverage in the sanctions-lifting negotiations.
Stressing that Iran is approaching the “final stage of a good, strong and durable agreement,” the top diplomat said the Islamic Republic will “respond to sanctions and interference.”
“Talked to @JosepBorrellF following his call. I said, if the US & the E3 think, via pressure, they generate leverage in the negotiations, they are wrong! We respond to sanctions & interference,” Amir-Abdollahian tweeted. “Concurrently, we are on the way to the final stage of a good, strong & durable agreement.”
The nuclear deal was signed in 2015 between Tehran and the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China during Barack Obama’s presidency.
However, Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, abandoned the JCPOA in May 2018 and slapped sanctions on Iran. The incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden had vowed during his election campaign to resume talks to revive the deal and remove the harsh U.S. sanctions. However, two years into his presidency, Biden has failed to keep his promise and is now threatening to take military action.