Iran foreign minister sees ‘positive process’ at Vienna talks
Iran’s foreign minister has described as positive the process of the ongoing US sanctions removal talks in the Austrian capital Vienna, more than three years after Washington unilaterally left the deal and imposed tough economic sanctions on Iran.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone call with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, during which they discussed the latest developments surrounding the Vienna talks among other issues.
Expressing Tehran’s deep distrust of US rulers, Amir-Abdollahian underscored the need for Washington and its European allies to take practical and tangible measures in order to reach a sustainable and reliable agreement.
Guterres welcomed any progress at the talks over nuclear and sanctions issues, saying the UN, with all of its power and capabilities, has supported the reaching of an agreement in Vienna.
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 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015.
The US is not allowed to directly attend the talks due to its pullout in 2018 from the deal with Iran.
During the new round of talks, Iran has rejected the notion of setting timelines for achieving an agreement, with its representatives noting that they prefer to clinch a logical accord within a logical period of time. Iran has also made its agreement to a new accord conditional on the realization of the Iranian nation's rights and interests.
As a result, the Iranian negotiating team has said time and again that achieving an interim deal is out of the question as Tehran seeks a sustainable, reliable and definitive agreement on the removal of sanctions imposed on the country.
The Islamic Republic has also rejected the pessimistic assessment of the talks by the US and the European trio – namely France, Britain, and Germany – as a psychological ploy to win concessions.
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