TEHRAN – Iran will not talk with the U.S. as long as Washington keeps the sanctions in place, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Wednesday.

Rabiei touched upon the French president’s plan to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said, “We will not enter talks with the U.S. under sanctions. Our conditions have not changed.”

“Of course, we have no problem with any plan that guarantees our rights in any framework it might be. We have no problem with participation of Japan or any other new country (in the talks). Our right to sell the country’s crude and return of oil exports’ revenues to the country must be guaranteed. Sanctions must be lifted (by the U.S.),” the spokesman stated.  

In early October, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ruled out any chance for the success of the mediation efforts underway by his French counterpart in view of Washington's policy, underlining that removal of the sanctions is a prerequisite for Emmanuel Macron's success.

"The French president's efforts will only be effective if sanctions imposed by Trump against Iran are lifted, and it is only at that time that the negotiations (with the U.S.) within the 5+1 group will be possible," Rouhani said in a meeting with a number of American media directors and senior figures at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in late September.
 
MJ/PA