Talks, Threats Cannot Go Together: Iran Envoy to UN

Date: 01 July 2019 - 21:50

News ID: ۶۷۶۱۷

UNITED NATIONS (Dispatches) -- Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht-Ravanchi has ruled out negotiations with the U.S., noting that talks and threats cannot go together.
"They (Americans) left the negotiating table while the other members of the international community were talking to Iran about the nuclear issue. All of a sudden, the U.S. decided to withdraw and the whole problem, the whole mess that we are seeing around ourselves is geared to that decision," Takht-Ravanchi told Fareed Zakaria's GPS aired by CNN on Sunday night.
"You compare the situation in early 2018 - before U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal - to what we have today: it's a totally different story. So all the things  started with that decision. In order to make things going back to normal, that decision has to be reversed," he noted.
Takht-Ravanchi ruled out the possibility of talks as long as the U.S. keeps threatening Iran.
"Talks and threats are mutually exclusive. We cannot start a dialogue with somebody while he/she is trying to intimidate and frighten you, is trying to impose sanctions on you. Coercion and intimidation do not go well with dialogue," he said.
Therefore, he added, "as long as threats are there, as long as intimidation and coercion are there, I think we do not consider any offer of dialogue as a genuine and production one."
Last May, President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal and announced the most draconian sanctions ever on the Islamic Republic.
In his CNN interview, Takht-Ravanchi touched on the negative impact of the sanctions on the Iranian people, but stressed that the country is capable of withstanding the pressure.
"We have already faced difficult situation during the Iran-Iraq war - the eight-year war imposed by Iraq on Iran; we managed to survive and we did, and I'm sure that we can. It is true the economic sanctions are putting pressure on the Iranian people, that is a fact. But that does not mean that we can succumb to pressure," he said.
Takht-Ravanchi further referred to Europe's efforts to save the Iran nuclear deal, and said they must hurry up and fulfill their commitments before Iran's July 8 deadline.
Otherwise, he said, Tehran will implement the "second phase" of scaling down its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Iran notified parties to the JCPOA on May 8 that it will resume its uranium enrichment if they fail to come up with a practical solution to keep it functioning.
Iran has specifically been critical of a financial mechanism launched by Britain, France and Germany to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran, saying the initiative known as Instex has failed to defuse U.S. restrictions on trade with Iran.
Takht-Ravanchi said the establishment of the mechanism per se is not sufficient and cannot solve any problem. "They should put money in it."