The Islamic Republic of Iran does not trust the Western parties to the JCPOA and they must prove their seriousness by removing the sanctions, the Iranian Ambassador to London, Mohsen Baharvand told BBC.
His remarks came in reaction to European signatories to the JCPOA who accuse Iran of dragging feet on the table of Vienna talks.
If Westerners are worried about time, they must start removing sanctions, Baharvand said, adding that at least they must show that they are serious; because the Iranian side does not trust them.
Former US President Donald Trump left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018 and reimposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the deal had lifted.
Iran and the five remaining parties to the JCPOA -- Germany, Britain, France, Russia, and China -- began some talks in the Austrian capital in April with the aim of removing the sanctions after the US, under President Joe Biden, voiced its willingness to return to the agreement.
The new round of talks on the removal of anti-Iran sanctions kicked off on November 29 in the Austrian capital city of Vienna.
During the first round of the Vienna talks under Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi, Iran presented two draft texts which address, separately, the removal of US sanctions and Iran’s return to its nuclear commitments under the JCPOA. Tehran also said it was preparing a third draft text on the verification of the sanctions removal.
During the talks, Iran also wants strict guarantees that the US would remove the sanctions and not abandon the agreement again.
Iranian top negotiotor Bagheri Kani has previously stated that the Iranian side has not received any constructive initiative or proposal from the opposite side during the ongoing negotiations, adding that the removal of the illegal and cruel US sanctions and Iran’s nuclear activities are two main sticking points in the current talks over which there still remains a host of differences between the two sides.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a post on his Instagram page Iran is serious in the Vienna talks while stressing that a quick agreement is possible if the Western side attends the negotiations with good intentions, initiative, and constructive ideas.
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