Iranian FM: Iran, US keeping exchanging messages to revive JCPOA

Amirabdollahian also accused some US officials of adopting a hypocritical stance toward the matter in their interviews with the media.

He voiced hope that all sides involved in the negotiations will take a final step toward reviving the nuclear agreement and that the talks will result in a good, robust and lasting agreement.

Amirabdollahian, who was talking to reporters on Wednesday in Tehran, stressed that despite the non-constructive position of the European troika and the US in the past eight weeks, Iran held talks with the US side through the European Union and some other parties with the aim of removing the sanctions.

The Iranian foreign minister underlined that Tehran has not crossed any of its red lines in the negotiations in spite of the fact that the US imagined Tehran would do so at one point during the protests in parts of Iran.

Amirabdollahian noted that it’s the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s duty to pursue the JCPOA revival talks and return to the deal with strength and wisdom and in line with the Islamic Republic’s national interests.

The top diplomat further spoke about relations between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA.

Amirabdollahian said the IAEA has deviated from the technical to the political path, which he blamed on the US and the European troika.

The Iranian foreign minister added that Tehran had on several occasions told Washington and the European governments that they had to prevent the IAEA from overshooting the mark but they failed to do so.

In other comments, Amirabdollahian accused the US, the European troika and the Israeli regime of interfering in Iran’s internal affairs, saying they do not have sound understanding of developments in Iran.

He again denied rights abuse accusations against Iran, saying respecting human rights is enshrined in religion and national teachings of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

He added that the Iranian police exercised strategic patience and restraint during the protests.

On Ukraine’s claims that Iranian drones are being used by Russia against the former Soviet republic, Amirabdollahina said Kiev has yet to show proof to back up its allegations.

He quoted his Ukrainian counterpart as saying that Ukraine has only found a drone used by Russia which bears Russian words but is similar to an Iranian-made Shahed-136 UAV.

The foreign minister stressed that Iran sticks to its policy of refusing to side with any of the warring sides in the Ukraine conflict.

During his press briefing, Amirabdollahian also spoke about talks between Iran and  Saudi Arabia, saying Riyadh has failed to fulfill its promise under an agreement with Tehran that was reached during the Iraqi-mediated negotiations.

“We hope that Saudi Arabia will honor its commitments under the agreement reached during the fifth round of talks in Baghdad so both countries can normalize”, he said.

Amirabdollahian underscored that there has been progress in Tehran’s cooperation with the Persian Gulf countries in diplomatic relations and officials in all regional countries have not adopted any unconstructive position on recent developments in Iran, unlike the US, the Israeli regime and the EU troika.