Iran asks the United States to lift sanctions and does not accept a step-by-step plan
The parties involved in the comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue are scheduled to negotiate the return of the United States to the Iran nuclear agreement in Vienna, the Austrian capital next week.
Iran reiterated on the 3rd that Iran requested the United States to lift all sanctions and "does not consider a step-by-step plan."
Both the United States and Iran will participate in this meeting, but they will not have a direct dialogue.
Prior to this, the United States and Iran had mutually agreed on conditions for returning to the Iran nuclear agreement. Both parties asked each other to take the first step: the United States asked Iran to re-fulfil the agreement, and Iran asked the United States to lift sanctions.
The Iranian side proposed in February this year that the European Union would mediate Iran and the United States to "synchronize" the actions required to return to the Iran nuclear agreement in order to break the deadlock.
The parties involved in the Iran nuclear agreement except the United States held a video conference on the 2nd of this month and agreed to meet in Vienna next week to continue their consultations.
The meeting will focus on lifting sanctions against Iran and continuing to implement the Iran nuclear agreement to further clarify the measures that the two sides need to take. At that time, the coordinator will hold separate discussions with other parties to the Iran nuclear agreement and representatives of the United States.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Said Khatibzad said in an interview with Iranian News and Television on the 3rd that Iran’s position remains unchanged, that is, the United States must lift all sanctions before returning to the Iran nuclear agreement.
Khatibzad said: "We do not consider a step-by-step plan. Iran's policy cannot be changed, that is, the United States lifts all sanctions."
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on the 2nd that the main issues discussed at the Vienna meeting will be “the steps that Iran needs to take to re-comply with the terms of the Iran nuclear agreement, and the lifting of sanctions that the United States needs to take to re-comply (the agreement). step".
He said that the US side "maintains an open attitude" towards direct dialogue with Iran.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had a phone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif on the 3rd, urging Iran to "show a constructive gesture" at the Vienna meeting.
Le Drian called on Iran to refrain from nuclear activities that undermine the momentum of consultations.
Zarif later responded on social media that Iran hoped that France would abide by its commitment to the Iran nuclear agreement and stop complying with the illegal sanctions imposed by the United States.
In July 2015, Iran reached an Iran nuclear agreement with the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. According to the agreement, Iran promised to restrict its nuclear activities and the international community lifted sanctions against Iran. In May 2018, the US government led by then US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear agreement, and subsequently restarted and added a series of sanctions against Iran. Since May 2019, Iran has gradually suspended the implementation of some of the terms of the agreement, but promised that the measures taken are "reversible." (Wang Hongbin) (Xinhua News Agency Special Feature)