Iran says may hold talks with other nuclear deal parties at UN

Iran says experts from Tehran and the other parties to the 2015 nuclear deal may convene a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the 77th UN General Assembly session to discuss the removal of anti-Iran sanctions.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani made the remarks during a press briefing in the capital Tehran on Monday when asked to comment on President Ebrahim Raeisi’s visit to New York.

H said Iran’s top negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani is accompanying the Iranian delegation.

“While no plan has been defined for the sanctions removal talks, international meetings and marginal negotiations among officials from participating countries always provide a favorable opportunity for the exchange of viewpoints on issues of common interest, as well as regional, multilateral and international developments,” he said.

“I do not rule out the possibility that there could be nuclear-oriented and sanctions removal negotiations on the sidelines of the meetings … Iran has never left the negotiating table and considers negotiations a proper, logical and reasonable way to resolving disputes,” Kan’ani said.

He added that Iran will use every opportunity to express its constructive and logical views, and that the UN General Assembly session is among the available chances.

The United States, under former president Donald Trump, abandoned the Iran deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018 and reinstated unilateral sanctions that the agreement had lifted.

The talks to salvage the agreement kicked off in the Austrian capital city of Vienna in April last year, months after Joe Biden succeeded Trump, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.

Despite notable progress, the US indecisiveness and procrastination caused multiple interruptions in the marathon talks.

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