No Direct Talks with Americans in Vienna: Iranian Spokesman

In comments at a press conference in Tehran on Monday, Khatibzadeh dismissed any plan for direct talks between the Iranian and American delegations in Vienna.

He also reminded the US that only with a genuine intention to lift the sanctions can it rejoin the nuclear deal, otherwise it will have to stay away from the JCPOA negotiating table.

“The Americans have wasted our time in six rounds of negotiations to keep the failed legacy of Trump,” the spokesperson added, recommending that the US seize the opportunity as the Iranian administration is entering the talks with goodwill and true resolve to see results.

“Such a window of opportunity will not remain open forever,” he added.

The US is advised to attend the Vienna talks with the purpose of removing the sanctions that have been imposed on Iran since 2015, specifically the sanctions with labels totally unacceptable to Iran, he noted.

The JCPOA was signed in 2015 between Iran and the Group 5+1 and endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

However, then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled Washington out of the nuclear deal in May 2018 and reinstated the anti-Iranian sanctions that had been lifted by the deal.

As the remaining European parties have failed to fulfill their commitments to the accord and compensate for Washington’s absence, Iran moved in May 2019 to scale back its JCPOA commitments.

Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA have held six rounds of talks in Vienna, which began after the US administration of Joe Biden voiced a willingness to rejoin the nuclear agreement, to examine the prospect of the bans’ fresh removal.

Vienna is now hosting the first round of JCPOA negotiations after the new Iranian administration took office in August.