Qalibaf: Fair outcome possible if Europeans meet commitments

“If Europe meets its obligations, we are sure to obtain an honorable agreement through honorable negotiations,” Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said in a live interview with the national broadcaster IRIB.

The speaker also said sanctions are the main reason for the current situation in the livelihood of the people in Iran.

Qalibaf added that some commitments Iran undertook under the 2015 nuclear deal, including the implementation of the Additional Protocol, were to be in return for removal of certain sanctions, but the US and Europeans “took no step” to remove the bans.

Since the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal in 2018, Iran has repeatedly called on the European signatories to the nuclear deal to live up to their words and act independently from the US on the issue of sanctions amid their foot-dragging on their pledges to compensate for the US pullout.

Iran says the Europeans’ failure to act according to their pledges eroded the economic benefits of the nuclear deal to the point that it was forced to take remedial steps to reduce its own obligations under the accord.

Iran and the remaining signatories to the nuclear deal, namely Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany continued their intensive talks in Vienna on Wednesday with the aim of removing the anti-Tehran sanctions.