Iran conditions any talks with the US to Washington’s return to the nuclear deal

Tabnak – Nine months after US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the remaining parties of the deal are still trying to save it from a total collapse. Meanwhile, Iran says any possible talks with the US in the future is dependent on Washington’s return to the deal.

In this vein, an Iranian deputy foreign minister says Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany have reaffirmed their strong support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and for Tehran after the US withdrawal from the accord.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday that the remaining parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have “acknowledged that the deal can only survive if Iran can receive the benefits of the deal,” and have reaffirmed commitment to keeping it in effect.

Araqchi also praised the European parties for devising INSTEX, a payment channel that France, Germany and Britain have proposed to continue trade with Tehran and bypass the US embargoes, Press TV reported.

In a statement at the conclusion of the JCPOA Joint Commission meeting in Austria on Wednesday night, Iran and the other five signatories to the nuclear deal described the accord as a key element in the international structure of nuclear non-proliferation and a major achievement of multilateral diplomacy.

The statement also underscored that while Iran has been honoring its commitments under the JCPOA, it is necessary to remove the sanction against Tehran to enable it to have normal trade and economic ties.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says Tehran is not afraid of negotiations but stressed that the US must first return to the 2015 nuclear deal and make up for the past in order for any negotiation to take place.

In an address at a meeting of provincial officials in the northern city of Rasht on Thursday, Rouhani said the US officials have made several requests for negotiations with Iran.

The president said Americans have even asked five leaders of other countries in the past year to work as mediators to convince Iran to enter talks with Washington, adding that he has made it clear that conditions and time are not appropriate for such talks and meetings. The US must first return to the JCPOA and make up for its withdrawal from the nuclear agreement before any plan for talks with Iran, Rouhani stressed.

Iran favors negotiation and is very skillful in it, the president added. “Our logic and reasoning is strong and reliable, to the extent that we won (cases) in the face of the US in international courts, so we are not afraid of the negotiating table, legal disputes and wars.”

In May 2018, US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the JCPOA, the nuclear deal that was achieved in Vienna in 2015 after years of negotiations among Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany). Following the US exit, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.