Iran Urges West’s Realism on JCPOA Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian called on the Western parties to be realistic about the Vienna talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, saying they ought to make “serious and effective” decisions about the removal of the sanctions against Iran.
In a telephone conversation on Monday night, Amirabdollahian and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi discussed bilateral relations between Tehran and Beijing as well as the process of talks in Vienna on the removal of unilateral sanctions against Iran.
Expressing appreciation for the Chinese government's supportive position in the Vienna talks on lifting sanctions, the Iranian foreign minister outlined the country’s policies with regard to the deal and stressed the need for realism on the part of the West.
“The Western side must make a serious and effective decision with regard to removing sanctions and demonstrate its meaningful departure from the failed policies of the previous US administration,” Amirabdollahian told Wang, Press TV reported.
“This will be possible by removing all sanctions contravening the JCPOA and adopting serious measures with regard to providing guarantees,” he added.
The Chinese foreign minister, for his part, said Washington’s 2018 withdrawal from the deal has damaged Iran and violated its legitimate rights.
Iran and the remaining participants to the JCPOA have been holding talks in Vienna since April last year with the aim of reviving the deal by bringing the US into full compliance.
The US left the JCPOA in May 2018 under former president Donald Trump. The Vienna talks began on a promise by Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, to rejoin the deal and repeal the so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran. Biden, however, has so far failed to undo Trump’s own undoing of Barack Obama’s Iran policy, which led to the JCPOA in June 2015.
The eighth round of the Vienna talks began on December 27 with a focus on the removal of all sanctions that the United States had imposed on Iran after its unilateral withdrawal from the JCPOA. The US is not allowed to directly attend the talks due to its pullout in 2018 from the deal with Iran.
