TEHRAN - Ali Najafi Khoshroudi, the spokesman of Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on Saturday that Iran-U.S. talks are possible if Washington apologizes and returns to the 2015 nuclear deal.

“If they remain committed to the JCPOA [the official name for the nuclear agreement], apologize and abandon their hostile policies, it will be possible to hold talks,” he told ISNA.

In a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on July 30, U.S. President Donald Trump said he is ready to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani without setting any pre-condition.

“It’s good for the country, good for them, good for us and good for the world. No preconditions. If they want to meet, I’ll meet,” Trump said.

MP Khoshroudi said the U.S., by offering to hold talks with Iran, is seeking to make up for its lost credit.

“The U.S. paid a high price after leaving the JCPOA and the country is called violator of the international obligations. This action of Trump is intended to make up for the lost credibility of the U.S. and seeks to say that Iran is unwilling to hold talks,” the lawmaker opined.

Immediately after Trump said he was ready to meet his Iranian counterpart, his chief diplomat Mike Pompeo sounded a quite different tone. 

“We’ve said this before,” said Pompeo, the former CIA chief. “If the Iranians demonstrate a commitment to make fundamental changes in how they treat their own people, reduce (what he called) their malign behavior, can agree that it’s worthwhile to enter into a nuclear agreement that actually prevents proliferation, then the president said he’s prepared to sit down and have the conversation with them.”

Analysts said the remarks by Pompeo showed that there is a chaos in the Trump administration.

A day after Trump proposed talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a tweet said, “Iran & U.S. had 2 yrs of talks. With EU/E3+Russia+China, we produced a unique multilateral accord—the JCPOA. It’s been working. U.S. can only blame itself for pulling out & leaving the table. Threats, sanctions & PR stunts won’t work. Try respect: for Iranians & for int’l commitments.”

NA/PA