Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says that there are well-known decision-making processes regarding the important issues of the country, including negotiations to lift sanctions.
"We will not negotiate with the US government on the nuclear issue until they return to the JCPOA or in any case announce their own policy in this regard, but we will have our own negotiations with European countries, with China and Russia," he said.
"All words are heard and ultimately the decision is made where it should be made, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs naturally implements what is the decision of the system," Araghchi said in a televised interview with Iran's national TV (IRIB) on Tuesday night.
"Last day and today, we had a round of negotiations with three European countries, the UK, France, and Germany, and a round of negotiations with Mr. Mora from the European Union and experts from the European Union. The main purpose of this round of negotiations is to find a way to restart nuclear negotiations," he added.
Araghchi pointed out that it is natural that "we have never left the negotiating table on the nuclear issue, and we have never said that we are not negotiators, because we are sure of the peaceful nature of our nuclear program, and we have never had" a fundamental problem in providing this assurance to others.
The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. Former US President Donald Trump illegally pulled out of the deal in 2018 while the current US President, Joe Biden, has signaled that he is ready to resurrect the agreement.
Russia, the UK, Germany, China, the US, and France have been in talks with Iran since April 2021 to reinstate the deal.
The talks to salvage the JCPOA kicked off in the Austrian capital of Vienna in April 2021, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.
The negotiations have been at a standstill since August due to Washington’s insistence on its hard-nosed position of not removing all the sanctions that were slapped on the Islamic Republic by the previous US administration. Iran maintains it is necessary for the other side to offer some guarantees that it will remain committed to any agreement that is reached.
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