Mahmoud Vaezi, director of the Iranian president's office, said that his country's demands to return to the nuclear agreement are clear, and that the US President-elect Joe Biden's administration should lift all sanctions that were placed during Donald Trump's presidency on Iranian companies and institutions.
Vaezi added that Tehran will not abandon this position and insist on it, and will return to its obligations if the opposite party returns to its obligations.
He stressed that there is no communication between Tehran and the Biden administration so far, and that Iran has clarified its position through the statements of President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif, and these statements are Iran's official positions on returning to the nuclear deal.
Mike Pence, the outgoing US Vice President, said that his country's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal had led to the strengthening of its alliances in the region.
In a speech to a number of soldiers in New York state, Pence added that when the current administration took power, Iran was being resurrected in the Middle East, as he put it.
Criticism of France
This coincided with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's criticism of statements by his French counterpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on Tehran's nuclear activities, and called on him to avoid "ridiculous phrases" against his country.
This came in a tweet on Sunday denying Le Drian's claim that Iran is working to develop its nuclear weapons capabilities.
Addressing his French counterpart, he continued, "Avoid ridiculous phrases against Iran, as you are destabilizing our region."
Zarif accused the leaders of Germany, France and Britain of not making any efforts to continue the nuclear deal.
On Saturday, Le Drian said in press statements that Iran is developing its nuclear capabilities, and that it and Washington must quickly return to the nuclear deal.
Le Drian's comments came in conjunction with a joint statement by Britain, France and Germany, in which the Iranian authorities warned of the repercussions of uranium mining.
In January 2020, Iran announced the suspension of all its pledges contained in the nuclear agreement in response to the assassination of Washington days earlier, the commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Authority, and others in an air bombardment in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
In May 2018, Washington withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement signed in 2015 between Iran and the "5 + 1" group, which includes Russia, Britain, China, the United States, France and Germany, and imposed economic sanctions on Tehran.
The agreement stipulates Tehran’s commitment to abandoning vital parts of its nuclear program for a period of at least 10 years and restricting it significantly, with the aim of preventing it from acquiring the ability to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.