‘Ball now in US court to decide whether to return to Iran deal or not’

Hours after Iran announced the submission of its views to the European Union, Ebrahim Azizi, deputy chair of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said Friday that Tehran had included constructive proposals in both of the documents it had sent to the US via EU coordinator Josep Borrell.

“Iran has constantly sought a conclusion of the negotiations and presented constructive proposals to the other side each time, but Iran’s main demand is economic dividends, from which the country will never back down,” he said.

“Besides, the American side must provide firm guarantees that nothing similar to the incident under [ex-US president] Trump will happen again,” the lawmaker said, referring to Washington’s unilateral exit from the Iran deal in May 2018.

He urged the Americans to end their excessive demands since Iran would never “pay ransom” to the opposite side.

Tehran has said it submitted a “constructive” response to the American views on a EU-drafted text of a possible final deal that was first put forward by Borrell earlier this month.

‘Iran is ready for ministerial meeting’

According to a report by ISNA, Iran focused on “speeding up and facilitating a conclusion of the negotiations” while drafting its response.

The US confirmed it received the response but claimed the Iranian comments were not constructive.

Mohammad Marandi, an advisor to the Iranian negotiating team, criticized Washington’s stance on the response.

“To the Americans, a constructive response means one that accepts the conditions set by America, but to Iran, it means a balanced and guaranteed agreement,” he said. “If America makes a right decision, an agreement could be reached swiftly.”