JCPOA Negotiators Don’t Take Instructions from Israel: Iranian Spokesman
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry dismissed the comments from the Israeli prime minister who has called for an immediate end to the Vienna talks on the lifting of sanctions on Iran, stressing that the delegations in the negotiations do not take orders from Bennett.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh made the remarks in a Thursday tweet in which he said Bennett’s demand for an immediate halt to negotiations in Vienna revealed the Zionist regime’s true color once again.
The Iranian diplomat, however, added that the Israeli prime minister’s comments were no surprise as the regime “whose genesis is based on war, tension & terror,” has always despised dialogue.
Khatibzadeh then emphasized, “Delegates in Vienna won’t take instruction from Beit Aghion,” referring to the name of the official residence of the Israeli prime minister, Press TV reported.
Earlier in the day, Bennett had alleged in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that “Iran is carrying out nuclear blackmail as a negotiating tactic, and this should be answered by the immediate halt to negotiations and the implementation of tough steps by the world powers.”
This came after the Israeli foreign minister’s visit to the UK and France earlier this week to ensure that banking sanctions against Iran will stand.
A day earlier, Khatibzadeh had warned that the Israeli regime is trying to come in the way of potential progress in ongoing talks in Vienna that seeks removal of the United States’ illegal and inhumane sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“Israeli regime whose existence relies on tension is at it again, trumpeting lies to poison Vienna talks,” Khatibzadeh said in a tweet.
Envoys from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries began on Monday the seventh round of the talks in the Austrian capital aimed at reviving the JCPOA.
Former US 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 decided to let go of some of the restrictions on its nuclear energy program, resorting to its legal rights under the JCPOA, which grants a party the right to suspend its contractual commitments in case of a non-performance by the other side.
The US administration of President Joe Biden had said it is willing to compensate for Trump’s mistake and rejoin the deal, but it has retained the sanctions as leverage.
Iran says it won’t settle for anything less than the removal of all US bans in a verifiable manner. It also wants guarantees that the US would not abandon the agreement again.
