Araghchi: America Must First Lift Sanctions
Despite the optimism expressed by political representatives of countries participating in the JCPOA Commission negotiations, differences between Iran and the United States still persist. Abbas Araghchi, Deputy for Political Affairs at the Iranian Foreign Ministry, claims the ball is in America’s court.
Abbas Araghchi, Deputy to Mohammad Javad Zarif, has once again conditioned the Islamic Republic’s return to its JCPOA commitments on the lifting of sanctions by the United States in his recent remarks. This comes as the United States considers lifting sanctions possible only if the Islamic Republic returns to its JCPOA obligations.
Since Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, made comments about Iran’s implementation of JCPOA obligations, only hours have passed. Blinken had emphasized in his interview with ABC News that the United States has yet to see any actions from the Islamic Republic toward returning to its JCPOA commitments.
The US Secretary of State had said that Iran knows what steps it must take to revive the JCPOA. Following Blinken’s remarks, Abbas Araghchi, in attending a meeting of the Islamic Consultative Assembly’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, spoke from Iran’s position.
Mehr News Agency, on Monday, June 24 (May 24), covered Araghchi’s statements at the aforementioned commission. The commission’s spokesperson once again emphasized the removal of all sanctions and their verification by Iran.
Abbas Araghchi responded to Blinken’s comments after the end of the National Security Commission meeting by posting on Twitter.
Araghchi wrote: “As the party that left the JCPOA, America must first remove its sanctions. After verification, Iran will resume full implementation of the JCPOA. Is America ready?”
It should be noted that Blinken posed a similar question, asking whether he should view Iran’s return to its JCPOA commitments with skepticism.
A new round of JCPOA negotiations is scheduled to take place this week. Participants in four rounds of Joint Commission talks had expressed satisfaction with the progress of the negotiations.
Russia’s political representative in these negotiations had emphasized that there was agreement on the step-by-step return of both Iran and the United States to their JCPOA commitments.
Source: DW
