Page 12 - IRANRptNov21

2.6 Iran’s Raisi calls on US to show nuclear deal ‘seriousness’ by indicating ‘readiness to lift sanctions’
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has called on the US to show a sign of “seriousness” in efforts to restore the 2015 nuclear deal by indicating a “readiness to lift sanctions” against Tehran.
In a late-night interview aired by state television on October 18, Raisi stated that Iran is “serious and committed” to return to Vienna to resume “result-oriented” talks aimed at restoring the nuclear deal—otherwise known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—although he did not set a date for that return.
“The Islamic Republic is serious in this. We must also see seriousness on the other side,” Raisi said.
Iran’s foreign ministry has previously said that the country has no pre-conditions for returning to the negotiating table.
In a tweet on October 17, Mikhail Ulyanov, who has served as Russia’s top negotiator at the Vienna talks, said that there were talks under way with Iran in Brussels that could be seen as a “preparatory step towards resumption of real negotiations in Vienna” but not as a substitute.
The JCPOA is meant to shield Iran against heavy economic sanctions in return for verified curbs on Tehran’s nuclear programme aimed at ensuring it stays entirely civilian. However, it has effectively not been in operation since May 2018 when the US, under then president Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew from the deal in favour of hitting Iran with swingeing sanctions that, among other things, shut the Iranians out of the world financial system.
Iran has been gradually breaking the limits the JCPOA set on its nuclear development activities and this week the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that stopgap measures put in place in agreement with Tehran to enforce some restrictions were no longer working, meaning surveillance was not intact.
12 IRAN Country Report November 2021 www.intellinews.com