The US special envoy to Iran, Brian Hook, announced that the goal of the US sanctions imposed on Iran is not to punish it, but rather to prevent it from what he described as Iranian hostilities, and denying it access to nuclear weapons.
Hook said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that the United States is ready to lift sanctions on Tehran, if a better agreement is reached with it.
"We hope to reach a new and better agreement with the Iranian regime to curb Iran's threats to security and peace, and if we can, we will be happy to lift the sanctions and restore diplomatic relations with Tehran," he said.
For his part, Iranian National Security Council spokesman Kiwan Khosravi told Al-Jazeera that Brian Hook's talk about the possibility of a new agreement escaped to the imam.
Prisoner exchange
He added that Washington's sanctions are an all-out economic war on the Iranians, and Hooke's words are "lies."
Khusrawi considered Hooke's talk about negotiating propaganda, aiming to distract public attention from Washington's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, considering that the prisoner exchange deal between Tehran and Washington is not a real novelty and cannot open a new path.
In another context, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said that his country is ready to exchange prisoners with the United States in an exchange deal that includes all the prisoners of the two countries.
Mousavi added that the United States is practicing a policy of pressure on Iran, and these pressures are classified as crimes against humanity, he said.
Mousavi denied that Iran was responsible for the attacks on Aramco, saying that its accusation of being behind the attacks was false and incorrect, and pointed out that the United Nations declared that Tehran had no role in the Aramco attacks.