TEHRAN – Iran on Monday dismissed a demand by the Group of Seven (G7) to suspend all its activities relating to ballistic missiles, saying those countries are well aware that UN Security Council Resolution 2231 by no means limits Iran’s nuclear program.
“Interpretations of [UN Security Council] Resolution 2231, by those who know well what this resolution refers to, are both very implausible and very inaccurate,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told a press conference.
The G7 nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – issued a statement during a three-day in-person summit, calling on Iran to “suspend all activities related to ballistic missiles and nuclear non-proliferation issues.”
“What the resolution says refers to missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads which are not part of Iran’s missile activities, and such implausible readings of the resolution will only discredit those who make these claims,” Khatibzadeh said.
He added that it would be better for the G7 leaders to fulfill their obligations instead, stop interfering in the affairs of regional countries, and try to make more contributions to peace and stability by building respectful relationships with regional states.
Khatibzadeh also said the United States needs to decide about what path it wants to pursue with regard to the ongoing talks in Vienna aimed at restoring the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, which was abandoned by the U.S. in 2018, by bringing the US back into compliance.
“The United States must make its decisions and know that it is not in an equal position with Iran and the P4+1 group in these talks. The United States should know that it is the violator of the JCPOA (nuclear deal) and Resolution 2231, and that it only participates in the talks in the position of a wrongdoer,” he said.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the United States must naturally give the necessary
guarantees that it will not repeat what happened during the Trump era.
He also said the current round of Vienna talks – the sixth since the talks began in early April – is unlikely to be the last in the multilateral negotiations.
“It is too early to judge the outcome of the talks. This will not be the last round, and it is unlikely to be the last round, and some media speculations are not true,” Khatibzadeh said.
The spokesman said the negotiating sides have reached a broad agreement over the removal of sanctions on its industrial sectors, including energy, but warned there was “very little time left” to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
“Some minute technical, political, legal and practical issues remain,” Khatibzadeh said. “No task was impossible for negotiators” and there’s no impasse, he said.
Touching on remarks by U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley about the human rights situation in Iran, Khatibzadeh said the current American administration, which Malley works for, has caused the death of many Iranian patients because of its failure to fulfill its promise to remove the Trump-era sanctions.
The Biden administration “has been an accomplice in Trump’s crimes against this nation through the continuation of his economic terrorism against the Iranian nation,” he said.
The remarks came days after Malley claimed he was “saddened” by the death of prisoner Sasan Niknafs in Iran.
Instead of shedding crocodile tears, Khatibzadeh asserted, the new U.S. administration needs to pay attention to the dark record it has produced “in the history of foreign policy.”
“No country or nation in the world is likely to trust U.S. [officials’] signatures and commitments. Because they showed that they are violating all their obligations, even obligations in Congress,” he added.