TEHRAN (Iran News) – Tehran may concede to no outcome in the Vienna talks on Tuesday, but a verifiable removal of all US sanctions, an informed source close to the Iran’s negotiating team told Press TV. “Tehran will not accept any outcome of the Vienna meeting other than the removal of all sanctions,” the source said on Monday night.
The source said the Iranian team’s agenda in the Vienna talks is clear, “Iran will start its measures to return to JCPOA commitments only after the removal of all US sanctions and verifying it.”
“Robert Malley will have to leave Vienna empty-handed if the Tuesday meeting would result in anything other than the removal of all US sanctions,” the source added, referring to the US president’s special envoy for Iran who is expected to attend the Vienna talks.
The comments came as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Seyed Abbas Araqchi has arrived in the Austrian capital for talks with the 4+1 (Russia, China, Britain, France, and Germany) on the US return to the 2015 nuclear deal, which was illegally abandoned by the former US President Donald Trump in 2018.
In relevant remarks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in a press conference in Tehran on Monday, “The agenda of the meeting is to lift the US cruel sanctions against Iran and how to fulfill the (nuclear deal) undertakings by the other side. This was the issue of the Joint Commission this time. There is a serious debate and tomorrow it will be clear whether the G4+1 can meet our interests or not.”
He said that Iran’s positon has been clearly stated in the last Friday meeting of the nuclear deal’s Joint Commission, and added, “We welcome if the US gives up the wrong path. No direct or indirect talks with the US have taken place or will take place in Vienna and anywhere else.”
Khatibzadeh underlined that no step-by-step plan has been proposed by Iran, adding that his country has not accepted any step-by-step plan either.
“All sanctions should be lifted, and Iran has discussed the verification path with the G4+1. The Vienna talks are also technical and legal,” he said.
“We have only one step which includes lifting of all US sanctions; in return, Iran is ready to suspend its remedial measures and reverse actions,” Khatibzadeh added.
