FM: Iran to Merely Accept Removal of All Sanctions in Vienna Talks

Amir Abdollahian stressed the need to fully consider Iran’s demands in Vienna talks.

Referring to the approaching sensitive stage of Vienna talks, the top Iranian diplomat stressed the need for seriousness and responsibility of the negotiating parties with Iran to reach an agreement.

He then called for a collective agreement between all negotiating parties on a single text and the need to take the legitimate demands of Tehran into serious consideration.

During the phone talk, the two sides exchanged their views on the latest trend of talks in Vienna and bilateral relations.

Truss said that the growing relations between Britain and Iran serve interests of both countries.

Truss also expressed hope that London would repay its dues to Iran in very near future.

In a relevant development on Monday, Secretary Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said that if Washington makes a political decision to remove sanctions against Iran, all speculations about the outcome of the Vienna talks will be removed.

“Vienna Talks have reached a stage where outcome can be announced without speculation and with certainty,” Shamkhani wrote on his twitter page yesterday.

“The US political decision to realize or refuse to accept the requirements of a credible and lasting deal based on the principles accepted in the JCPOA can replace speculation”, he added.

In another tweet on Sunday night, Shamkhani had voiced displeasure that the western parties participating in Vienna talks still continue their initiative “show” to avoid acting upon undertakings.

Shamkhani referred to his phone talks with Iran’s leade negotiator Ali Baqeri Kani, and said, “Tonight’s phone call with Bagheri Kani confirmed 2 statements in my mind about Vienna Talks: 1. Increasing difficulty of Iranian negotiators task to advance the logical and legal instructions of Tehran 2. Continuation of initiative ‘show’ by Western parties to evade commitments.”

Envoys from Iran and the G4+1 group of countries — Britain, France, Russia, and China plus Germany — have been holding negotiations in the Austrian capital for 10 months in a bid to resurrect the JCPOA.

The eighth round of the talks resumed last Tuesday after a brief pause during which the negotiators returned to their capitals for consultations.

Shamkhani warned last Monday that the Vienna talks between Iran and the world powers may not end up in a deal if the US remains adamant to removing all cruel sanctions imposed on Tehran under the maximum pressure campaign.

“The agenda for the Iranian negotiators to continue the eighth round of Vienna Talks has been carefully defined. An agreement in which the sanctions that form the maximum pressure are not lifted will condition the country’s economy and cannot be the basis of a good deal,” Shamkhani wrote on his twitter page.

Reports said earlier this month that the Biden administration has restored a nuclear cooperation sanctions waiver to Iran, a senior State Department official said.

The waiver, which was rescinded by the Trump administration in May 2020, had allowed Russian, Chinese and European companies to carry out non-proliferation work at Iranian nuclear sites.

The move came as Iran has been requesting removal of economic sanctions.

Shamkhani reacted to the news by saying that Iran has the right to a peaceful nuclear program.

“Iran’s legal right to continue research and development and to maintain its peaceful nuclear capabilities and achievements, along with its security against supported evils, cannot be restricted by any agreement,” he tweeted.

Iranian senior analyst Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm also discredited the US move, describing it as a deceitful measure aimed at prioritizing nuclear debates over economic sanctions in the Vienna talks.

In a reply tweet to a post left by Ulyanov who had welcomed the US waivers as a step forward, Khoshcheshm said the US continues its game against Iran and its recent move shouldn’t be interpreted as softening tone.

Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi said on Friday that his country pursues a balanced foreign policy in relations with the world states, stressing that Iran’s progress does not depend on developments in New York or Vienna.

“In our foreign policy, we seek balanced relations with the world and attach special importance to neighboring countries” Rayeesi said.

“We pin hope on our people,” he added, noting that “we never pin hope on either New York or Vienna”.

Also, Shamkhani said on Saturday that his country is determined to continue progress in its peaceful nuclear program as well as defense capabilities.

“Options that are never removed from the table: Glorious presence of Iranians in ceremonies in support of the Islamic establishment, maintaining and strengthening Iran’s peaceful nuclear capacities and defense capabilities and regional security-making policies of Islamic Republic,” Shamkhani wrote on his twitter page after the Friday rallies on the occasion of the 43rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution across Iran.