TEHRAN – The Iranian top diplomat said the talks with the United States over a new nuclear agreement remains open if Washington changes its approach to the 2015 international nuclear deal, local media reported on Monday.
“Iran would consider new diplomacy if there were foundations for a fruitful dialogue on the Iranian nuclear deal,’’ Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
According to him, the current U.S. government does not believe in diplomacy. It believes in imposition.
“It is mutual respect, not mutual trust that is a requirement to start negotiations,’’ Zarif noted.
All U.S. sanctions against Iran which were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), returned on Monday.
However, JCPOA was targeting many of Iran’s critical sectors such as energy, shipping, shipbuilding and finance.
Earlier in the day, Zarif said the U.S. withdrawal from the multilateral JCPOA in May was a “scandal” for Washington.
“Today, we can see the JCPOA was so much in favour of Iran’s interests that America withdrew from it scandalously,’’ Zarif told Iran’s parliament.
