Step-by-Step Deal, Tentative Plans in Vienna Talks Out of Question: Iranian Spokesman
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry ruled out any step-by-step agreement or interim plans in the course of the Vienna negotiations for the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“There is basically no talk of anything as a step-by-step deal or interim plans,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a press conference in Tehran on Monday, commenting about the course of talks in Vienna on the lifting of sanctions and saving the 2015 nuclear deal.
“We are negotiating in Vienna on the basis of the draft documents we have put forward on the lifting of the sanctions and how to stop Iran’s remedial measures,” he noted.
The spokesman reiterated that Iran has entered the Vienna negotiations with a serious resolve to strike a good deal, one that would be in the interests of both sides.
Criticizing the US and the European troika for “minimal commitment” to their undertakings, Khatibzadeh said Iran’s proposed texts have been prepared according to the drafts of the six previous rounds.
The spokesman underscored that Iran will accept nothing less than the JCPOA and won’t commit to anything beyond it either.
Envoys from Iran and the P4+1 group of countries held the seventh round of the talks in the Austrian capital last week to discuss ways for the removal of US sanctions and reviving the JCPOA.
Former US president Donald Trump left the JCPOA in May 2018 and re-imposed the anti-Iran sanctions that the deal had lifted. He also placed additional sanctions on Iran under other pretexts not related to the nuclear case as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign.
