TEHRAN - In a telephone conversation on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell highlighted the significance of sustainable talks and exchange of visits to lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran.

Borrell said brining the nuclear talks to a conclusion is still a priority for the EU and insisted on the need to continue talks and lift sanctions.

Amir Abdollahian also pointed to the recent talks between his political deputy Ali Bagheri Kani and Borrell’s deputy Enrique Mora about the resumption of nuclear talks and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is firm in its decision for sustainable and constructive talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and in return really expects the Western sides honor their obligations in the nuclear talks and show full commitment to remove sanctions.”

The 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was ditched by Donald Trump in May 2018. However, the talks to revive the deal under Joe Biden’s presidency failed as the West withdrew from the talks following the 2022 unrest in Iran.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Abdollahian praised Borrell’s position on the need to stop the Israeli war on Gaza and send humanitarian aid to the 2.3 million people in the coastal enclave who have been started by the Israeli regime.

He also said, “The time has arrived to take punitive measures against the Israeli regime and forming an international research group” to investigate “about the ‘combined crimes’ of this regime in al-Shifa hospital” in Gaza.

“The West’s double standards toward Gaza and Ukraine crises”

The Iranian foreign minister complained about the West’s double standard and contradictory approaches about Palestine and Ukraine, saying

the shipment of arms by the U.S. and certain European states to Israel for the Israeli “genocide” in Gaza is an instance of contradictory approach toward these two crises.