TEHRAN - Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian says the United States is to blame for the current situation surrounding the Iran nuclear agreement, stressing that the European countries’ lack of commitment to the deal also added to the distrust caused by the U.S. withdrawal.
“The U.S. is the main culprit over the current situation,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a telephone conversation with his German counterpart Heiko Maas on Monday night.
“The U.S. withdrawal and the three European countries’ reneging on their commitments have increasingly raised distrust,” he said. “Therefore, the complete lifting of sanctions is a necessity.”
Iranian official urged the European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal to refrain from issuing provocative statements, saying the Islamic Republic will not give in to threats that create a “false hype” around the Vienna talks aimed at removing Washington’s anti-Iran sanctions.
“The use of force and threats is not helpful in the course of negotiations, and the Islamic Republic of Iran will not succumb to such a false hype,” he asserted.
“Any inaccurate comments that are contrary to realities could jeopardize the ongoing efforts” meant to get the multilateral nuclear agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), back on track, the chief Iranian diplomat said.
Envoys from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries — Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany — are expected to hold the seventh round of discussions in the Austrian capital on November 29.
Maas, for his part, said Germany understands Iran’s distrust and that his country would work to return the U.S. to the JCPOA and bring the Vienna talks to a conclusion.
He also pointed to German companies’ interest in working with Iran, expressing hope that such cooperation would be strengthened by resolving the current problems.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump left the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the deal had lifted. He also placed additional sanctions on Iran under other pretexts not related to the nuclear case as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign.
Following a year of strategic patience, Iran resorted to its legal rights under the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of non-compliance by other signatories, and let go of some of the restrictions imposed on its nuclear energy program.

Iran to Boost Defense Power

In a telephone conversation on Tuesday, Amirabdollahian and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, Amir-Abdollahian described defense programs as Iran’s sovereign right and said Tehran will continue to promote its defense capabilities irrespective of the U.S. sanctions.
Iranian minister once again slammed Washington for creating the current problems, saying Iran is after reaching a “good agreement” on resurrecting the JCPOA, which would, in turn, remove the U.S.’s sanctions on Iran.
A good agreement, according to the Iranian foreign minister, has certain requirements, including a return by all sides to their commitments and the removal of the sanctions.
Tehran has time and again clarified its position on reviving the JCPOA, insisting that the U.S. needs to guarantee that it will not abandon the deal again under another administration.
On Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh once again spelled out what the U.S. must do to regain its JCPOA membership.
The U.S. must agree to return from the path it took as the party to blame for the current situation, he told reporters at a press briefing.
Khatibzadeh explained that the U.S. then needs to remove all the cruel and illegal sanctions it imposed on Iran after its unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal “in one go and in an effective way.”
Then the U.S. has to guarantee that “no administration in the United States would belittle the world and international law” again by repeating

the withdrawal from the JCPOA, he added.

Chief Negotiator to Meet European Counterparts

Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Baqeri-Kani is to meet with his European counterpart aimed at potential removal of the United States’ illegal sanctions against the Islamic Republic in the coming days.
“Following recent consultations with foreign colleagues, will meet several European counterparts in upcoming days,” Baqeri-Kani tweeted.
“We shall spare no effort in advancing our national interests, including removal of illegal sanctions,” he added.
The U.S. returned the sanctions after leaving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a historic nuclear agreement between Iran and world countries, in 2018.
Following a year of strategic patience, Iran resorted to its legal rights stipulated in Article 26 of the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of non-compliance by other signatories, and let go of some of the restrictions imposed on its nuclear energy program.
Tweeting earlier in the month, Baqeri-Kani announced that the seventh round of the talks was to go underway in the Austrian capital on November 29.