TEHRAN -- Iran’s top security official on Saturday stressed that boosting the country’s peaceful nuclear capacities and defense power is among the options that will never be off the table.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani made the remarks in a post on his Twitter account, a day after millions of Iranians celebrated the 43rd anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
“Options that are never removed from the table: Glorious presence of Iranians in ceremonies in support of the Islamic establishment, Maintaining and strengthening #Iran’s peaceful nuclear capacities and defense capabilities, Regional security-making policies of Islamic Republic,” he wrote.
The comments came at a time, when envoys from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries are engaged in the negotiations in Vienna aimed at lifting illegal sanctions against Tehran and resurrecting the 2015 deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Iran’s top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov met in Vienna on Saturday and “discussed in details the way ahead at the #ViennaTalks on #JCPOA.”
Ulyanov held separate meetings with U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, EU coordinator Enrique Mora and political directors of the three European parties to the JCPOA -- France, Germany and Britain.
“We discussed the most contentious issues which need to be settled at the #ViennaTalks on #JCPOA,” Ulyanov tweeted, referring to his meeting with Malley.
Envoys from Iran and the five remaining signatories to the deal -- Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany -- have been holding negotiations in the Austrian capital for 10 months with the aim of bringing the U.S. back to compliance.
The two sides have bridged some gaps since the talks began last year, but differences remain, especially on the issue of U.S. sanctions. Tehran wants all sanctions imposed by the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump removed and says the issue is its red line.
The three working groups on sanctions removal, nuclear issues and sequencing the implementation of a probable agreement also met on Friday to address the remaining outstanding issues.
Head of the EU delegation to international organizations in Vienna Stephan Klement said in a tweet that intensive consultations continue between Iran and the P4+1 group of countries “as time is of essence.”
In a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said the current U.S. administration’s adherence to the failed policies of its predecessor with regard to Iran is the main obstacle to making “acceptable progress” in the Vienna negotiations.
Trump unilaterally left the JCPOA in May 2018 and reimposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the deal had lifted. He also placed additional sanctions on Iran under pretexts irrelevant to the nuclear case as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign.