Iran Calls for New Talks ‘As Soon As Possible’
TEHRAN – Iran called on
Monday for a new meeting “as soon as possible” in the talks that have been held in Vienna aimed at restoring the frayed 2015 nuclear deal.
Tehran has been engaged in negotiations with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia to revive the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that is on life’s support following the U.S. withdrawal in 2018.
“It is appropriate that a face-to-face meeting is held as soon as possible,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told his weekly press conference.
“It is not yet decided where and when to have this meeting and at what level it should be held, but it is on the agenda.”
The 2015 deal gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The United States unilaterally withdrawal from the accord in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed draconian sanctions, prompting Iran to begin rolling back its own commitments.
Iran and the United States, adversaries for decades, have been exchanging views through the European coordinator of the Vienna talks, Enrique Mora.
Khatibzadeh said Iran and the European Union agreed that “prolonging the pause in the negotiations is not in anyone’s interest”.
He added that the talks “have not stopped and are continuing through the coordinator of the Vienna negotiations”.
The Vienna talks have been paused since March 11 after Russia demanded guarantees that Western sanctions imposed against it after its February 24 conflict with Ukraine would not damage its trade with Iran.
Days later, Moscow said it had received the necessary guarantees.
The Vienna talks, which started a year ago, aim to return the United States to the nuclear deal, including through the removal of sanctions on Iran.
Among the key remaining sticking points is Iran’s demand that Washington delist its Islamic Revolution Guards Corps from a U.S. terror list.
“It is clear that if the U.S. had given the right answers to the remaining issues ... everyone would have been in Vienna by now,” said Khatibzadeh.
Talks With Saudi Arabia ‘Progressive’
Khatibzadeh confirmed that Iran held a fifth round of “positive” talks with Saudi Arabia in Baghdad on normalizing bilateral relations.
The two countries started direct fence-mending talks last year, but Iran announced a temporary halt in March after Saudi Arabia executed 81 men in its biggest mass execution in decades.
“The fifth round of talks between Saudi Arabia and Tehran were held in Iraq and the talks were progressive and positive,” the spokesman said.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Sunday Baghdad would host a new round of talks between Tehran and Riyadh. He also told the official Iraqi News Agency that the fifth round of talks was held a friendly atmosphere earlier this week.
Iran’s Nour News, affiliated with the country’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), first announced the fifth round of negotiations on Saturday.
“The positive atmosphere of the recent meeting has raised hopes for the two countries to take a step towards the resumption of relations. It is expected that a joint meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries will be held in the near future,” the news agency said in a tweet in Persian.
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran in January 2016 after Iranian protesters, enraged by the Saudi execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, stormed its embassy in Tehran.
In the years that ensued, the kingdom pursued a confrontational foreign policy toward the Islamic Republic, but it has apparently changed tack since 2021.
Last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran welcomes Riyadh’s “new inclination” to fix bilateral relations, stating that rapprochement between the two sides will benefit both nations as well as other friendly states.
Amir-Abdollahian was reacting to comments by Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Muhammad bin Salman, who had said earlier that the two countries should find a way to coexist.
Palestine, Most Important
Issue of Muslims
Khatibzadeh further condemned the latest acts of aggression by Israeli forces against worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, stating that the issue of Palestine is the top priority of the Muslim world.
“We are witnessing that the first issue of the Muslim world, which is Palestine, has slipped into oblivion. The Zionist regime is cunningly and deceitfully trying to sideline the matter,” he said.
He added that Palestine is still the most crucial issue of the Muslim world, irrespective of all conspiracies being hatched by the Tel Aviv regime against it.
The Iranian diplomat said the normalization of diplomatic relations between some Arab countries and Israel has emboldened the occupying regime to press ahead with its criminal acts.