Nuclear Agreement Possible if US Decides to Compensate: Iran

On Monday, Iran said reaching an agreement in the Iran nuclear talks would be possible after the upcoming visit by the European Union envoy, if the United States decides to compensate for what it has taken from Iran's people.

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Making the remarks at a weekly press conference, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the EU coordinator for the Iran nuclear talks Enrique Mora will hold a meeting with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani on Wednesday.

Mora's visit to Iran shows that the nuclear talks are on the right track, Khatibzadeh said, adding that if the U.S. decides today to return what it has picked from Iranians' pocket, an agreement could be reached after Mora's visit.

Khatibzadeh added the negotiations between Iran and the remaining parties to the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have continued incessantly.

Iran has repeatedly announced that messages are constantly being exchanged indirectly between Iran and the U.S. through the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is the coordinator of the JCPOA Joint Commission, Khatibzadeh noted.

In response to Borrell's Saturday remarks that he is seeking a "middle way" to end the impasse of the Vienna talks, Khatibzadeh stressed that what has happened in the Vienna talks is the result of U.S. indecision. Rejecting a dead end in the talks, the Iranian spokesman said Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties had agreed on the draft of the agreement.

Iran signed the JCPOA with the world powers in July 2015 accepting to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on Tehran. However, former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed Washington's unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting Iran to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the agreement in retaliation.

Since April 2021, several rounds of talks have been held in the Austrian capital between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties to revive the deal. Iran insists on obtaining guarantees that the succeeding U.S. governments would not drop the deal again and calls for lifting the sanctions in a verifiable manner.