US can win ticket to JCPOA if Iran sanctions lifted: Spokesman

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh said Iran’s negotiating team has entered Vienna with “serious resolve and will” to hold fruitful talks on the fate of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.

Khatibzadeh noted that the multilateral talks, which are scheduled to resume in the Austrian capital later on Monday, will be “on the right track” if Washington comes to the negotiations with determination to resolve the outstanding issues.

“If the US comes [to Vienna] to lift the sanctions, it will receive a ticket back to the JCPOA room, otherwise, it will remain out of the JCPOA table.”

Khatibzadeh also urged the opposite side to make the most of the talks, warning that “the window of opportunity will not remain open forever.”

Asked to comment on a joint anti-Iran article by the Israeli and British foreign ministers on the eve of the Monday talks, Khatibzadeh said it seems that certain “European countries are not coming to Vienna with the necessary will to remove the sanctions.”

Furthermore, he went on, it shows that not only some European countries are not serious in the Vienna talks, but they are also seeking to expand the talks while preventing the full implementation of the JCPOA.

Commenting on the verification by Iran of the sanctions removal phase, Khatibzadeh said Iran seeks to verify Washington’s implementation of its commitments under the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses the JCPOA, adding that it would be one of the main issues Iran would focus on during the talks.

The JCPOA was inked by Iran and six world powers in 2015. Under the deal, Tehran agreed to put limits on certain aspects of its nuclear activities in exchange for the removal of international sanctions imposed against the country.

In 2018, however, the US exited the nuclear pact and began to unilaterally implement what it called the maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic, effectively depriving Iran of the deal’s benefits by forcing third parties to stop doing business with Iran.

Iran remained patient for an entire year, after which it began to take incremental steps away from its nuclear obligations due to the other parties’ proven failure to secure its contractual interests.

The Islamic Republic’s nuclear steps prompted other signatories to enter talks earlier this year.

Iran has repeatedly said that it seeks the removal of all sanctions in a verifiable manner as well as a guarantee from Washington that it will not leave the deal again.