Iran tells UK foreign secretary West needs to make decision

Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a phone conversation with Liz Truss, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom on Thursday. 

The Iranian Foreign Minister referred to his talks with his German counterpart and EU foreign policy chief on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference recently and said that about the Vienna talks on the removal of anti-Iran sanctions and the US return to the JCPOA that "We have made good progress in these talks, and the negotiating delegations in Vienna are working hard to reach a good agreement. At the same time, accelerating the process of reaching an agreement requires a serious will to make a courageous and realistic political decision on the part of the West to ensure Iran's interests, especially the verifiable lifting of sanctions, in order to reach a lasting agreement."

Amir-Abdollahian expressed hope that the European countries participating in the talks would play a constructive and favored role in reaching an agreement with a realistic perspective.

The two sides stressed that the repayment of Britain's debts to Iran as one of the main issues and stressed the need to settle the matter in an appropriate way as soon as possible.

In the telephone conversation, the British Foreign Secretary, Truss reviewed the latest state of bilateral relations and talks to resolve the debt issue to Iran, and also explained London's views on the matter and on the Vienna talks.

The British Foreign Secretary said that the growing relations between Britain and the Islamic Republic of Iran serve the interests of both countries.

Truss also said the parties at Vienna talks have achieved good results so far, urging for completing the talks as soon as possible and reaching an agreement.

In the end, she expressed hope that in the near future, with the continued cooperation of both sides and on the basis of fundamental principles, bilateral issues between Iran and the UK, including consular issues related to prisoners, as well as the payment of UK debts to Tehran, will be resolved.

KI