Iran Uses Its Tools, Power in Response to Excessive Demands in Nuclear Talks, FM Says
Whenever the parties engaged in the nuclear negotiations with Iran have made excessive demands, the Islamic Republic has utilized its tools and power to ensure the interests and welfare of the Iranian nation, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said.
Speaking to reporters after a hearing session of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Sunday, Amirabdollahian said that during the nuclear talks, Tehran “has offered its initiatives and ideas on a logical basis whenever it was treated in a logical way by the other side.”
“Every time that the opposite side put forth excessive demands during the (Vienna talks), we used the country’s own tools and power, so that they would understand that the interests and welfare of the Iranian nation were important to us and that we will continue our efforts to this end,” he stated, Press TV reported.
Iran’s foreign minister expressed hope that the measures meant to get all the negotiating parties to return to the JCPOA, would be taken in such a way that Iran’s power and demands as well as people’s expectations are taken into consideration.
“While emphasizing the need to completely protect the rights of the country in the international arena, our people expect us to do so while respecting all the red lines,” Amirabdollahian said.
Since April last year, the Iranian negotiating team has been involved in marathon talks with the other remaining parties to the JCPOA – Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia – with the aim of bringing the US back into the deal and destroying its sanctions regime against Tehran.
Under former president Donald Trump, the United States pulled out of the landmark agreement and instigated what it described as the “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions against the Islamic Republic to reach a “better deal” than the JCPOA.