Sanctions Removal Talks in the Home Stretch: Iran’s FM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The negotiations on saving the JCPOA and lifting the sanctions on Iran have entered the closing stages, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said.
In a meeting with President of Zanzibar Hussein Ali Mwinyi during a visit to the African country on Friday, Amirabdollahian highlighted the efforts by the administration of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the termination of the sanction.
The talks on removing the anti-Iranian sanctions have reached the final stages, he noted, adding that an eventual deal will be achievable if the US acts realistically.
The foreign minister also hailed Zanzibar and Tanzania for their cooperation with Iran during the era of sanctions, expressing Tehran’s readiness for closer interaction with the African states.
Iran is ready to share its technical and scientific expertise in various fields with Zanzibar, Amirabdollahian added, pointing to the Islamic Republic’s great capabilities in medicine, pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, medical education and fish farming.
Voicing Iran’s readiness to provide scholarship support for Zanzibar’s university students, the foreign minister said Iran is prepared to assist the East African island with the electricity generation and solar power solutions.
Considering that Iran is the world's largest holder of oil and gas reserves, the Islamic Republic is prepared for cooperation with Zanzibar in oil and gas extraction, he added.
For his part, President Mwinyi said Zanzibar in interested in the promotion of business and investment cooperation with Iran.
The president also expressed his country’s readiness to work with Iran in the gas and oil extraction, inauguration of technology parks, agriculture, education, dam and road construction, etc.
Heading a high-ranking economic delegation comprised of representatives from the private and state-run sectors of Iran, Amirabdollahian is taking a tour of Africa that took him earlier to Mali and Tanzania.
He began the tour of Africa after Washington on Wednesday responded to Iran’s comments about a European Union proposal that is aimed at taking the JCPOA talks out of its current impasse.
Iran and world countries, including the US, struck the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. However, in a unilateral and illegal move, the US pulled out of the deal in May 2018, under pressure from the Israeli regime and its influential lobby groups in Washington. After withdrawing from the deal, the US also reinstated the draconian sanctions that the deal had lifted.
Since April last year, the Austrian capital of Vienna has been playing host to talks aimed at examining the prospect of Washington's return to the JCPOA, and fresh removal of the sanctions.
The European Union, which acts as the talks' coordinator, recently forwarded the fresh proposal to the Islamic Republic in order to break the impasse that has affected the negotiations due to American procrastination.