Tuesday , 14 May 2024

Iran Says It Will ‘Definitely’ Continue Nuclear Talks

RFL/RE – The Iranian Foreign Ministry says Tehran will “definitely” continue talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the country’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the comments on September 6, a day after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held a phone conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, during which the two leaders discussed the nuclear talks launched in April, according to the official IRNA news agency.

The report said Macron expressed hope that the negotiations, which were suspended following Iran’s presidential election in June, would be resumed with the presence of Iran.

“We will definitely continue the negotiations…soon,” Khatibzadeh said, without specifying when the nuclear team appointed by Raisi would resume the negotiations.

On September 4, Raisi told state television that his government is “pursuing outcome-oriented negotiations” as a diplomatic way to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program.

But these should take place without any “pressure” from Western countries, he warned.

Under the 2015 deal between Iran and Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia, and the United States, Tehran agreed to curbs its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

Six rounds of talks on reviving the 2015 deal have been held in Vienna since April to bring Tehran and Washington back into compliance, after the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran.

Tehran, in turn, has since been violating the terms of the accord by producing uranium metal and stepping up production of enriched uranium, among other things.

With reporting by dpa and IRNA
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