‘Iran planting mines on nuclear talks’ path’

Iran said recently that it is ready to resume the Vienna negotiations.

Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said his country is ready to return to the negotiations ‘soon’.

He denounced, however, the approach the administration of US President Joe Biden is taking to the Iranian nuclear file.

The US administration, he said, says it is ready to honor its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal.

“However, it has not taken any steps to confirm its goodwill to the new Iranian government and people,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

He added that President Biden’s administration had also imposed new sanctions on Iran.

Amir-Abdollahian’s remarks came in the wake of US criticism of Iran after the failure of six rounds of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file in Vienna.

Washington said it had not received any assurances from Iran on its willingness to return to the talks yet.

US special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, said his country cannot wait forever for Iran to take a decision to resume nuclear negotiations.

The US, he said, had warned Iran against the background of its hard stance in the Vienna negotiations.

Iranian mines

Amir-Abdollahian’s remarks also gave insights into the form of negotiations it wants to have with the international community over its nuclear file.

This form has always been a contentious point between Iran and the international community, causing the negotiations to return to square one.

He said Iran always plants mines on the path of the negotiations.

The US special envoy warned that these mines would make the return to the negotiations by the US of no value to it at a certain stage.

Tehran, he said, makes a miscalculation by believing that the intensification of its nuclear activities would push the US to make more concessions to restore the nuclear agreement.