Top security official: No negotiations with U.S. on Iran’s agenda

“Negotiations with the United States are not on the agenda of the Iranian negotiating team because they will not lead to any breakthrough,” Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said in a tweet on Monday.

He added that the Vienna talks have been going on among Iran, the P4+1 and representatives of the European Union and that this path will continue unchanged until they reach a result.

The eighth round, which began on December 27, has now become one of the longest rounds of the talks between Iran
and the P4+1.

Iran refuses to sit down directly with American
diplomats, meaning negotiators from Britain, China,
France, Germany and Russia must shuttle between Iranian and American diplomats.

Iran and the P4+1 are completing a draft text of an agreement. Most of the delegations acknowledge that the talks are moving forward, despite the complexity of some issues.

Iran insists that America must remove all sanctions imposed on Tehran after former U.S. president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out from the hard-earned deal in May 2018 in violation of American commitments. It also says Washington must provide guarantees that it will not leave the JCPOA again.