TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Saturday that removing sanctions on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) is an “important” and “serious” issue in negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The remarks by Amir Abdollahian came one day before Enrique Mora, the European Union coordinator for the Vienna nuclear talks, held talks with Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani and possibly some other Iranian officials in Tehran.

Lifting sanctions on the IRGC is one of the “important issues of negotiations,” the foreign minister told the national TV.

He added, “Removing the name of real and legal persons from the ‘red list’ and from a complex of sanctions and unilateral sanctions that the U.S. has imposed on Iran is one of the serious issues of our recent negotiations in Vienna.”

By red list the minister means “list of terrorist organizations”.

However, the foreign minister said senior IRGC officials have personally told him that “the issue of the Guards should not be a hurdle for the agreement” and this shows “self-sacrifice” by this military force.

“The status and role of the Guards as well as the lawful position of the Guards as (Iran’s) most important security and defense body” should be taken into consideration in the negotiations, the minister insisted.

On this issue “messages have been exchanged with the Americans,” Amir Abdollahian added.

Recently, American media have said the U.S. administration is assessing removing the name of the IRGC from sanctions list.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who illegally quit the nuclear deal in May 2018, put the IRGC on the list of terrorist organizations. In addition to imposing sanctions on the IRGC, the Trump administration slapped sanctions on individual IRGC commanders and companies affiliated to the military body.

The IRGC was the main force against terrorist groups, including Daesh, in Iraq and Syria.

Before his travel to Tehran, Mora had said efforts should be made to close “the remaining gaps” to restore the JCPOA.

“We must conclude this negotiation. Much is at stake,” Mora wrote on Twitter.

Moral held talks with Bagheri Kani in Tehran on Sunday.