Iran’s security chief: U.S. not united to make political decisions about Vienna talks

February 9, 2022 - 21:39

TEHRAN — Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary said on Wednesday that the United States is not united in making a “political decision” to advance the ongoing negotiations in Vienna intended to lift sanctions on Iran by reviving the 2015 nuclear deal ditched by the Trump administration.

“Voices from the US government show that there is no coherence in the country to make political decisions in the direction of advancement in the #ViennaTalks. The US administration cannot pay for its internal disputes by violating #Iran's legal rights,” Ali Shamkhani tweeted on Wednesday.

The tweet comes after the chief negotiators, who had traveled to the capitals for consultations, returned to Vienna on Tuesday to resume talks.

During the hiatus, Bagheri Kani, Iran’s chief negotiator, briefed MPs on the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee on the conclusion of the negotiations. According to MPs who attended the briefing, Bagheri Kani saw the conversations as "forward-moving" and "good."

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian reaffirmed on Saturday that Iran is "serious" about obtaining assurances at the Vienna nuclear talks that the U.S. will not breach its commitments again.

Amir Abdollahian said Iran's negotiating delegation is working hard to obtain "tangible guarantees" and bring the Western side back into compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The foreign minister also stated that Iran had partially succeeded in gaining some economic and political guarantees.

"What the Iranian negotiating team is seeking at all levels is political, legal, and economic agreements, but the Iranian negotiating team is serious about obtaining a practical guarantee from the Western side," he added, according to state news agency IRNA.

Bagheri Kani met with EU coordinator Enrique Mora on Tuesday. He also met with the Russian ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov.

“Met with the Head of the delegation of #Iran Mr. A.Bagheri Kani immediately upon resumption of the #ViennaTalks on #JCPOA,” Ulyanov tweeted after the meeting.

A group of 33 U.S. Republican senators threatened in a letter to Biden that they would make every effort to block the implementation of the agreement with Iran if it did not allow Congress to vote on it.

After talks with his visiting French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Kremlin on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the position of Moscow and Paris on the situation around the Iran nuclear deal are very close.

"We discussed the situation around the Iran nuclear deal and the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that was adopted in 2015 and approved by United Nations Security Council resolution 2231. We share the opinion that it is necessary to continue diplomatic efforts and encourage compromise solutions in the interests of saving this major document," TASS quoted Putin as saying.

"We agreed that our positions on this matter are very close or, as diplomats say, coincide," he added.

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