"A mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA would not only be in the interests of the United States and our European partners, the E3 in this context. Ensuring permanently and verifiably that Iran would not be in a position to obtain a nuclear weapon would also be in the interests of two of the participants in this meeting you referenced, Russia and China as well," claimed Ned Price in a press briefing on Thursday.
The claims come while Tehran has repeatedly announced that it has no intention to build nuclear weapons as it has been banned by a religious Fatwa of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei.
"There is only one reason that we have not yet reached an understanding on a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA, and that is because Tehran has not yet accepted the reasonable basis presented by the EU as coordinator of the JCPOA talks. As we’ve said repeatedly, gaps remain between the United States and Iran, or between Iran and the rest of the P5+1 in many ways. And it’s clear from Iran’s response that these gaps still remain. Iran’s response did not put us in a position to close a deal, but we continue to contend that it’s not too late to conclude a deal. As long as we believe that pursuing a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA is in the interests of the United States and in our national security interests, we will continue to do that," he added.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi in an interview with Qatar's Al Jazeera television network on Thursday said that "the US has to take trust-building measures" amid the ongoing negotiations over the restoration of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Raeisi also censured a raft of new sanctions that Washington has imposed on Iran, asking, "If Washington is after an agreement, why does it apply new sanctions during the course of the nuclear talks?"
He noted, "We are determined to put up a decisive defense of Iran's and its people's rights" during the negotiations.
He added potential fresh removal of the American sanctions has to be accompanied with relevant "guarantees."
Iranian officials have, time and again, asserted that upon potentially lifting the sanctions, Washington should be able to guarantee that it would not return the bans again.
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