Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian stressed that his country is not ready to conduct direct negotiations with the United States in the absence of sustainable guarantees for a good deal, and said that Tehran proposed issuing a Western political statement to pledge to abide by the nuclear deal.
Abdullahian said - in an interview with the British Financial Times published today, Wednesday - that the US side refuses to give real guarantees that the administration of President Joe Biden will not withdraw from the nuclear agreement, as the administration of his predecessor Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.
The Iranian minister said that Tehran had doubts about the seriousness of the negotiating parties regarding lifting the sanctions imposed on his country.
He called on Washington to show its goodwill by releasing part of Iran's money or lifting some sanctions before any direct negotiation.
"In principle, public opinion in Iran cannot accept the word of a head of state, especially the United States, because of the Americans' withdrawal" from the 2015 nuclear deal, Abdollahian told the newspaper.
According to the newspaper, experts say that it is almost impossible for the Biden administration to provide the legal guarantees required by Tehran.
But Abdollahian said he instructed the Iranian negotiators to suggest to the Western parties that "their parliaments or at least the heads of their parliaments, including the US Congress, can declare in the form of a political statement their commitment to the agreement and return to the implementation of the JCPOA (the nuclear deal)."
Since April 2021, talks have been held in Vienna to revive the Iranian nuclear agreement, but the US and Iranian delegations do not directly negotiate in Vienna.
Western concerns are growing about Tehran's accelerating nuclear progress, which Western powers believe cannot be reversed unless an agreement is reached soon.
The Secretary of Iran's National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, said that the United States and European countries failed to test the implementation of their commitments in the nuclear deal.
He added that the nuclear agreement on the economic side and the lifting of sanctions had turned into an "empty shell" for Iran.
He stressed that Tehran will not engage in any talks outside the framework of the nuclear agreement "with Washington, which does not abide by its promises, and European countries that have not done anything about it."
On the other hand, the British Foreign Office said that Secretary Liz Truss spoke to her Iranian counterpart, Amir Abdollahian, on Monday, and told him that it was time to make final decisions in talks to revive the nuclear deal.