8 March 2022. Press TV: Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi says Tehran has not backed down on any of its red lines in the ongoing negotiations in Vienna on a possible revival of the 2015 deal and it will never do so in the future.
Speaking at a meeting of the Assembly of Experts on Tuesday, Raeisi said his administration was pursuing the Vienna negotiations in accordance with the principles and framework laid out by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
“We have not retreated and will never retreat from any of the [country’s] red lines,” Raeisi said.
He outlined his administration’s strategy in the Vienna talks with the five remaining parties to the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
“In the first step, the administration has seriously pursued neutralizing the sanctions and, in the second step, it seeks the removal of the sanctions during the negotiations in full dignity,” he added.
He once again reiterated Iran’s policy of bolstering relations with all countries and creating a balance in its foreign agenda.
“The power of the Islamic Republic is based on the people’s support and their presence in various arenas, and social resources and public trust constitute the most important components of the country’s power, strength and national security,” Raeisi said.
The US unilaterally left the 2015 Iran deal in 2018, and restored the sanctions that had been lifted under the accord. Washington’s European allies in the deal—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—have been toeing the sanctions line closely by ending their trade activities with Iran.
The Vienna talks began last April between Iran and the remaining parties to the JCPOA- Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China- on the assumption that the US, under the Biden administration, is willing to repeal the so-called maximum pressure policy pursued by former president, Donald Trump, against Tehran.
Iran says it won’t settle for anything less than the removal of all US sanctions in a verifiable manner. It also wants guarantees that Washington would not abandon the agreement again.
In a Monday meeting with a number of Iranian parliamentarians, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the Islamic Republic will not allow any foreign factor to have any impact on the Vienna negotiations.
