Iran’s previously proposed step-by-step approach is now off the table because it says it will only agree to a full lifting of US sanctions.
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s Foreign Ministry said there would be “no step-by-step plan” to lift layers of U.S. sanctions and restore the country’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
“The definitive policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the lifting of all US sanctions,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told PressTV on Saturday.
He said this included all the sanctions imposed and reimposed by former US President Donald Trump.
Trump in 2018 unilaterally abandoned nuclear deal, also signed by China, Russia, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, and imposed severe economic sanctions which have only intensified since.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman’s comments come as U.S. State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said on Friday that in-person talks in Vienna next week on relaunching the deal. nuclear would be on “the nuclear steps Iran should take to return to compliance.”
Iran had previously said it was open to a step-by-step approach, but changed its stance after US President Joe Biden refused to lift sanctions for months, insisting Iran should act first to return to full compliance with all of its commitments. as part of the agreement.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has since said Iran’s “final policy” on the nuclear deal is that the United States will have to lift all sanctions, after which Iran will “verify” their lifting. and reduce uranium enrichment and eliminate the many advanced centrifuge cascades it has. deployed.
Iran is “in no rush” to lift the sanctions, the supreme leader said.
‘Quickly finalize the lifting of sanctions’
Shortly after Friday’s meeting of the Joint Committee on the Virtual Nuclear Deal, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told state television that Iran does not need the sheet. road to restore the agreement.
“In our opinion, there is no step-by-step plan. We only have one final step for the United States to take to lift the sanctions it has imposed, reimposed or relabeled over the past four years. We will check and then Iran will come back to its commitments, ”he said.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said on Friday that there would be no direct or indirect meetings between Iran and the United States during the Vienna talks, calling it “unnecessary”.
He said in a tweet that the goal of the talks will be to “quickly finalize the lifting of sanctions and nuclear measures for the choreographed removal of all sanctions, followed by Iran ceasing corrective measures.”
Last week, President Hassan Rouhani said Iran had seen “no serious effort” on the part of the United States to lift the sanctions.
“Americans lie that they need time [to lift sanctions]. They can do it in an hour and we’ll only need a moment. There are a few screws that we have to bend and untwist, ”he said.
