Iran urges US to drop ‘excessive demands’ to revive JCPOA deal

Iran’s Foreign Minister said Tuesday the United States should drop its “excessive demands” in order to facilitate the revival of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

“We hope that the American side will give up its excessive demands in the moments close to an agreement so that we can announce [reaching] a good and lasting agreement, which is supported by all parties to the negotiations, in the near future,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow.

Iran's top diplomat added that the pause announced in the Vienna talks can pave the ground for the settlement of the outstanding issues and an eventual return of all sides to compliance with their obligations as per the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“What can play a determining role in Vienna is the realistic view of the American side in these last days and weeks of reaching an agreement,” Amir-Abdollahian pointed out.

The United States left the multilateral Iran deal in 2018 and began to implement what it called the “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, depriving the country of the economic benefits of the agreement, including the removal of sanctions, for which Iran had agreed to put certain caps on its nuclear activities.

In the meantime, the other parties to the deal, in particular France, Britain and Germany, only paid lip service to safeguarding Iran’s economic dividends as promised under the JCPOA, prompting Iran – after an entire year of “strategic patience” – to reduce its nuclear obligations in a legal move under the deal.

The Vienna talks began last April between Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA- Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China- on the assumption that the US, under the administration of President Joe Biden, is willing to repeal the so-called maximum pressure policy pursued by former president, Donald Trump, against Tehran.

Iran and the P4+1 group of countries on Friday announced a pause in the Vienna talks, with Tehran saying that all relevant parties will concentrate on a “successful conclusion” of the diplomatic process.

The Iranian foreign minister further pointed to his talks with Lavrov about the Vienna process and dismissed Western allegations that Moscow could stand in the way of an agreement to revive the JCPOA.

“I would like to declare here that Russia will pose no obstacle to reaching an agreement and there will be no link between the developments in Ukraine and the Vienna negotiations,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

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