More anti-Iran bans merely political bluff: MP

A senior Iranian lawmaker says efforts by certain American officials to impose more sanctions against Iran are merely a “political bluff” which will bear no fruit.

“They (Americans) need negotiations with Iran and the imposition of more sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which certain American officials are pursuing, is a political bluff which will fail to produce any result,” a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Majlis Esmail Kowsari said on Saturday.

“The Americans have made no gains from previous sanctions against the Islamic Republic to increase the bans,” the legislator added.

Since December 2013, one month after the Geneva deal over Iran’s nuclear energy program, a few American senators led by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez have been trying to impose fresh sanctions against Iran.

But the sanctions bill stalled in the Senate and has not been brought to the floor for a vote.

Iran and the P5+1 — the US, France, Britain, Russia, China — and Germany inked an interim deal on Iran’s nuclear energy program in Geneva, Switzerland, last November. The deal came into force on January 20th.

The Iranian lawmaker further said that talks between Iran and the P5+1 only include the nuclear issue and added that the negotiations have nothing to do with other topics.

Kowsari emphasized that Iran would continue negotiations with the P5+1 only within a nuclear framework.

“As Leader of the Islamic Revolution has repeatedly announced in his speeches, the Americans are not trustworthy. They showed that they are not even committed to their agreements,” the legislator pointed out.

Iran proved to the world during the Geneva talks that it is only pursuing its legitimate rights, said the lawmaker.

Experts from Iran and the P5+1 group concluded their latest round of nuclear talks on Friday in the Austrian capital of Vienna.