Araghchi: Lifting sanctions requires negotiation but not under maximum pressure

TEHRAN (Iran News)  Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has described the sanctions currently in place against the Iranian people as cruel, saying that the measures are a big obstacle in the way of economic development of Iran, which need to be lifted, but under negotiations not maximum pressure policies.

The top diplomat was speaking on Saturday evening in Tehran, addressing the Sixth Methanol Conference held by Iran’s Zagros Petrochemical Company, which was also attended by top officials and members of parliament.

Regarding the sanctions, Araghchi said, there are two tasks that should be accomplished.

The first one is to lift the sanctions through “negotiations and interaction with others”, he said. The second one is to “nullify” the sanctions, which requires self-reliance, and is “prioritized” while also being regarded as a public duty, he added.

“Lifting the sanctions requires negotiations, but not under the maximum pressure policy. Negotiation cannot be carried out from a weak stance, as it will no longer be considered negotiation, but will be a kind of surrender. We never go to the negotiating table this way,” the foreign minister emphasized.

He also said negotiations should be held vigilantly, adding that the Islamic Republic has never left the negotiating table and will never do so.

Araghchi made the comments a day after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that negotiating with the U.S. government was “unwise” and “not honorable.”

Ayatollah Khamenei’s remarks followed statements by U.S. President Donald Trump who said he was willing to hold talks with Iran but also signed a presidential memorandum to resume “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic, which he had launched during his first term in office after he withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018.

The Iranian Foreign Minister said that the JCPOA experience showed that the U.S. does not fulfill its obligations, and Iran will not allow that to happen again.

Iran does not want to hold talks with a country that signs a document on new sanctions while simultaneously speaks of negotiations, Araghchi added.