Resumed Vienna talks must focus on sanctions lifting: Iran

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said that the upcoming Vienna talks on the 2015 nuclear talks must focus on the lifting of the sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

"Just let me insist on this: we are not holding nuclear talks, since the nuclear issue was fully agreed in 2015, in the form of the agreement between Iran and the P5+1," Bagheri Kani told local media after his meeting with Philippe Errera, a senior French official, in Paris.

The main issue to be discussed is the consequences of the US abandonment of the 2015 agreement, formally known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), said the Deputy Minister, who is also Iran's senior negotiator in charge of the Vienna talks, reports Xinhua news agency.

Those consequences are limited to "the illegal sanctions" against Iran only, he added.


The Iranian official said he was hopeful that the way for successful talks can be paved in his scheduled meetings with officials from several European countries this week.

Speaking about his meeting with Errera, director-general for political affairs and security at the French Foreign ministry, Bagheri Kani said it was "detailed, frank, serious, constructive and forward-looking".

The Iranian negotiator noted France's potential positive role concerning the JCPOA and other international matters in the coming months, as the country will take on the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first half of 2022.


After France, Bagheri Kani was expected to meet German officials in Berlin soon.

The JCPOA Joint Commission is scheduled to reconvene in Austria's capital Vienna on Nov 29, with the participation of delegates from China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain, and Iran.

The US, which pulled out of the international agreement in May 2018 under former President Donald Trump, is expected to engage in the talks indirectly - IANS