In light of the ongoing impasse in negotiations, Iran said on Monday that it will not be pressured into signing a “quick” agreement resurrecting its ailing 2015 nuclear agreement with major powers.
The Western parties to the nuclear deal, according to Nasser Kanani, spokesman for the foreign ministry, “demand that Iran makes a rapid choice, (insisting that) time is short and Iran must reply promptly.”
The Islamic republic, according to Kanani, “would not sacrifice the country’s essential interests… with a hurried procedure.”He claimed that it was being subjected to “psychological pressure and unilateral expectations.”
But according to Kanani, “an agreement is close if the US behaves constructively and proactively.” Iran received reprieve from sanctions under the 2015 agreement in exchange for limitations on its atomic programme, which ensured that it could not acquire a nuclear weapon—something it has consistently denied wanting.
But after the US unilaterally left the agreement in 2018 under the administration of then-President Donald Trump and reinstated harsh economic sanctions, Iran started to pull out of its own promises.
The Vienna talks that were supposed to restart the deal in April 2021 have been in a standstill since March due to disagreements among Tehran and Washington on a number of points.
Through the coordinator for the European Union, two parties engaged in indirect negotiations. In an effort to restart the Vienna process, Qatar sponsored indirect negotiations between both the United States and Iran last month, but the sessions ended after two days without producing any progress.
