Araqchi: First, the US must lift sanctions
Despite the optimism of the political representatives of the countries present at the JCPOA Commission negotiations, differences of opinion between Iran and the United States persist. Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, claims that the ball is in the US court.
Abbas Araqchi, deputy to Mohammad Javad Zarif, has once again made the Islamic Republic's return to its JCPOA commitments conditional on the lifting of sanctions by the United States, in his recent statements. This is while the United States considers the lifting of sanctions possible only when the Islamic Republic returns to its JCPOA commitments.
It has only been a few hours since US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's statements regarding Iran's implementation of its JCPOA commitments were published. In an interview with ABC News, Blinken emphasized that the United States has not yet seen any steps by the Islamic Republic to return to its JCPOA commitments.
The US Secretary of State had said that Iran knows what steps it needs to take to revive the JCPOA. Following Blinken's remarks, Abbas Araqchi spoke about Iran's position by attending a meeting of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly.
Mehr News Agency reported on Araqchi's remarks at the aforementioned commission on Monday, May 24. The commission's spokesperson once again emphasized the lifting of all sanctions and their verification by Iran.
Abbas Araqchi reacted to Blinken's remarks by publishing a Twitter post after the end of the National Security Committee meeting.
Araghchi wrote: "The US, as the party that has left the JCPOA, must first lift its sanctions. After verification, Iran will resume full implementation of the JCPOA. Is the US ready?"
It should be noted that Blinken had also raised a similar question, asking that he was skeptical about Iran returning to its JCPOA commitments.
A new round of JCPOA talks is scheduled to take place this week. Participants in four rounds of the Joint Commission had expressed satisfaction with the progress of the negotiations.
The Russian political representative in these negotiations emphasized that the agreement was about a step-by-step return by both Iran and the United States to their JCPOA commitments.
Source: DW
