TABNAK, Jan 01: A senior Iranian diplomat says the Islamic Republic is about to resume its talks with the European trio of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany (E3) later this month on the revival of a deal on Tehran's nuclear program.
His remarks came on the sidelines of a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani and the martyrs of terror.
“We do not know what is going to happen. We must engage in the dialogues to see what will happen. As we have previously announced, these are dialogues, not negotiations.”
These dialogues aims at making clarifications and more consultations to see in what context, method and framework negotiations should take place if negotiations are to take place, he further added.
The two sides have been conducting on-again, off-again talks since 2018, when the United States illegally and unilaterally left a historic nuclear accord between Iran and world powers under its former president Donald Trump, returning Washington’s unlawful sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The trio then failed to live up to their promise of bringing Washington back into the deal.
Reacting to the counter-party’s non-commitment to its obligations, Tehran initiated a set of retaliatory nuclear steps, including by activating more advanced centrifuges.
The country has been stepping up the measures in response to the other parties’ continued refusal to uphold their obligations.
Earlier this year, the European states forwarded an anti-Iranian resolution that had been proposed by the US, to the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which was approved by the board.
Last month, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi strongly criticized some members of the Board of Governors for taking “unconstructive measures” that prevented a November visit by the IAEA’s Director General Rafael Grossi to the Islamic Republic from resulting in progress in the two sides’ attempts to resolve outstanding issues concerning the agency’s Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement.
The Islamic Republic, though, has vowed to respond in kind to any positive measures on the part of the other parties to the nuclear agreement.
Gharibabadi also referred to the government’s positive opinion on the FATF and the Supreme Leader’s agreement to re-examine the FATF in the Expediency Discernment Council, saying, “If this issuae is put on the agenda of the council, the council, in accordance with its responsibilities, should determine whether Iran’s accession to the two commissions in question is in the country’s interest or not.”
