The United States, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, invited Iran to hold direct talks on restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said this in an interview with the online publication Al-Monitor published Monday.
"Even here, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, we got a message from the Americans: 'Let's talk directly.' <...> That's exactly what's happening now, we're getting messages from the United States," Abdollahian said. At the same time, he stressed that in order to hold direct talks with the United States, the Iranian side must be confident in their effectiveness. "We are not afraid to negotiate face-to-face with the United States. But we need an understanding that it will be a game changer, that there will be some benefit and gain for us from these negotiations," the minister added.
Abdollahian said that Tehran does not see the need for a new round of indirect talks with the participation of European mediators, but will not abandon them either. "If the US side believes that another round of talks conducted by coordinators, I mean [EU diplomatic chief] Josep Borrell and the European Union, we are not going to give it up," he said.
In addition, the minister said that in recent weeks Iran and the US had made "some progress" on the topic of economic guarantees. At issue is Tehran's demand for Tehran to enshrine in the agreement a provision that the US side cannot unilaterally withdraw from the agreement, as former US President Donald Trump did.
On September 10, the foreign ministries of Britain, Germany and France issued a statement calling Iran's position on the nuclear program inconsistent with its commitments and jeopardizing the restoration of the JCPOA. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani noted that Europe's criticism of Tehran's position was a step pushing the negotiations on the nuclear deal to failure.
The JCPOA was signed with Iran in 2015 to address the crisis over its nuclear developments by the permanent UN Security Council Five and Germany. Previous US President Donald Trump decided in 2018 to withdraw from the deal. Current US leader Joe Biden has repeatedly signaled a willingness to bring Washington back into the nuclear deal. Russia, Britain, Germany, China, the US and France have been negotiating with Iran in Vienna since last April to restore the JCPOA to its original form.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS