MP says Raeisi will not continue Vienna talks in same format
A member of Iran’s Parliament says the administration of next president Ebrahim Raeisi will neither abandon nor continue Vienna nuclear talks in its present form.
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"The next administration's policy is not abandoning JCPOA talks," Mojtaba Zonnour, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told Mehr News Agency on Sunday.
"The administration believes that JCPOA has had costs and benefits; the Islamic Republic has paid the costs and now it is time to use benefits," he added.
"Raeisi's administration will not continue talks in Vienna format. Vienna format is a worse repetition of JCPOA and is jumping out of the frying pan into the fire."
Iran and the remaining JCPOA signatories have held six rounds of talks to revive the deal in Vienna. Former US President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the deal in 2018 and re-imposed harsh unilateral sanctions against Iran in what has been described by Iranian officials as 'economic war' and 'economic terrorism'.
Iran, in response, reduced its commitments to the deal in series of transparent moves, noting that all the remedial measures can be reversed as soon as illegal US sanctions are removed.
Despite his promises in presidential campaigns, Joe Biden has so far failed to take a practical step in reviving the deal.
"Rouhani's administration is indebted to people because they failed to realize JCPOA benefits and the Western sides should pay their debt to Iran," said Zonnour.
US' return to the JCPOA has its own benefits for Washington but the US administration is not willing to pay the costs, the lawmaker said, adding that one of the costs for the US is the lifting of the arms embargo on Iran.
"Biden is not willing to return to the JCPOA and he does not even believe the expired content of JCPOA. He is trying to keep 517 sanctions in place and implement the snapback mechanism and under these circumstances, the condition of sanctions will become harder."
"The next administration will not leave Vienna talks. [However,] JCPOA talks will continue only if interests of the Iranian nation is secured."
Meanwhile, Iran's lead negotiator in Vienna talks Abbas Araghchi tweeted on Saturday that the next round of talks should await for power transition in Iran.
"We're in a transition period as a democratic transfer of power is underway in our capital", the Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for the Political Affairs said, adding, "Vienna talks must thus obviously await our new administration. This is what every democracy demands."
