Iran calls on US to accept it's legitimate demands, FM

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has called on the United States to provide the ground for the final text of an agreement in Vienna talks by accepting the "legitimate demands" of the Islamic Republic.

"We have conveyed our message to America through the Europeans. We hope that the American side, with a realistic and pragmatic view and acceptance of the legitimate demands of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will provide the ground for an agreement on the final text," he told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavosoglu on phone late Wednesday.

The negotiations between Iran and the Europeans plus Russia and China to revive the 2015 nuclear deal through removing US sanctions on Tehran have dragged on since April 2021. While the Biden administration has claimed to be ready to return to compliance with the deal which its predecessor abandoned in 2018, it has taken no practical measures to undo Washington's past wrongs.

On Monday, an Iranian foreign ministry official dismissed US media reports that a text for restoring the deal with Iran had been completed and that negotiations in Vienna were finished.

Iranian officials have said they had already conveyed an initial response to the draft and would come back with additional views at a later point.

The Nournews website, which is affiliated to the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, said the Islamic Republic has clearly announced from the beginning that it will not sign a text until it is sure of an agreement on all the discussed issues that will fully secure the interests of the Iranian nation.

Foreign Minister Cavosoglu "expressed hope that the current negotiations will soon come to a conclusion in order to secure the rights of the Iranian nation and the common interests of all parties," Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.