Iran FM raps US inaction on JCPOA revival

Iran criticized the United States for its inaction in a multilateral diplomatic effort to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian late on Sunday told his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto on the phone that Iran was serious and had the willpower to reach a “good, strong and long-lasting” agreement on the JCPOA.

Direct talks in Vienna between Iran and France, Britain, Germany, China, Russia and indirect talks with the United States to resurrect the JCPOA have been on hold since March over the US refusal to meet Iran’s key demands, including the effective removal of US unilateral sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Haavisto expressed hope that a desirable deal would be hammered out during the talks in Vienna. 

Last Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian urged US President Joe Biden to lift economic sanctions and abandon his predecessor Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign in order to resurrect the JCPOA. The anti-Iran campaign was launched in 2018 after Trump unilaterally walked out of the nuclear deal.

A day earlier, Robert Malley, the US point man on Iran, said Biden’s administration still supported the 2015 accord and was ready to lift sanctions if it secures an agreement.

But he claimed “excessive Iranian demands” made the odds of success lower.

Malley also noted that Trump’s approach had demonstrably failed.