Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday that safeguard issues should be resolved before reaching an agreement between Iran and world powers on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.
Speaking at a press conference, he said the Iranian team will not leave the negotiation table in the talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, but reaching an agreement hinges on the settlement of safeguard issues.
The president also emphasised that lifting anti-Iran sanctions and unfreezing Iranian assets abroad have been at the core of the nuclear talks.
“Those who abandoned their commitments should return and fulfil their obligations. They promised to remove the sanctions on Iran but did not deliver. Our emphasis in these negotiations is on the removal of sanctions,” he said.
As he added, nuclear industry and nuclear capability are the right of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the people of Iran, but nuclear weapons have no place in the doctrine of the Islamic Republic.
According to Mr Raisi, his country seeks to use nuclear technology in agriculture, oil and gas, medicine and many other civilian sectors.
No plans to meet Biden
In response to questions regarding Iran-US relations, the president said that Iran will not have direct exchange of views with the US and he has no plans to meet with the US President Joe Biden at the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
The US presence in the Middle East only creates problems and will not bring real peace and stability, he said.
The nuclear deal
Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear programme in return for the removal of sanctions on the country.
However, former US President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.
The talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington.