TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati said on Saturday that guaranteed and conclusive lifting of sanctions against the country’s banking system is a priority for Iran in order for the nuclear talks to proceed.
“The removal of sanctions against the central bank, Iranian banks, SWIFT, and any money transfer between them and major foreign correspondent banks, needs to be verified,” Hemmati said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Hemmati noted that officials from the central bank are directly involved in the negotiations to make sure that the lifting of sanctions will be real and practical.
Asked about the way in which the practicality of the deal will be verified, Hemmati said: “We will make the verification in our own ways; personally, I am hopeful about the trend of negotiations.”
Iran and the remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal held another meeting on Friday to discuss the latest developments concerning the nuclear deal. During the meeting, participants agreed to expedite talks and start working on a draft text of the final agreement to revive the nuclear deal.
Iran’s banking system has for decades been largely isolated from global finance because of the U.S. sanctions.
The Islamic Republic says U.S. sanctions have even prevented the country from importing non-sanctioned goods like food and medicines and effectively handle the coronavirus outbreak. Washington has also stood in the way of Iran’s $5 billion loan application to the International Monetary Fund.
The Friday meeting has marked the start of the fourth round of nuclear talks, which is taking place in the Austrian capital of Vienna within the framework of the JCPOA Joint Commission.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister who leads the Iranian delegation at the Vienna talks, issued a brief statement shortly after the JCPOA Joint Commission saying that during the meeting “it was decided to start expert and technical consultations and work on the draft texts immediately.”
The statement added, “All parties reaffirmed their seriousness to achieve the result in the shortest possible time.”
