TEHRAN – An informed source said Friday the U.S. is trying to wage a psychological war against the Islamic Republic in the midst of the ongoing talks in Vienna, rejecting Washington’s claim that Iran’s frozen funds had not been released.
On Thursday, Tasnim news agency quoted Iran’s deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, Mahdi Safari, as saying that Iran has recently received some $3.5 billion of its frozen money.
During a press briefing later in the day, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said neither the U.S. nor its partners have released any of Iran’s illegally-frozen funds.
“The United States has not authorized or approved any such frozen transfers to Iran. All of our current sanctions remain in effect,” Price said, adding that Washington’s anti-Iran sanctions, which were put in place after the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, will remain in effect until and unless “we’re able to reach a diplomatic agreement” in Vienna.
On Friday, Fars news agency quoted an informed source as saying that Price’s remarks, which coincide with a new phase of talks in the Austrian capital, are aimed at waging a psychological war against the Islamic Republic.
Coming from the U.S., the remarks are “natural but they will not affect what has actually happened,” the source added.
Iran and the other five remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear agreement initiated the seventh round of the Vienna talks on November 29, five months after they were paused, to work out ways to revive the deal by bringing the US back into full compliance.
A revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) would require the U.S. to undo its “maximum pressure” policy against the Islamic Republic and remove all the sanctions that were slapped on Iran under the hostile policy.
Tehran has repeatedly voiced readiness to fully honor its nuclear obligations under the JCPOA as soon as the U.S. removes the sanctions verifiably and provides guarantees that it will not ditch the deal again.