Foreign Ministry spokesman: US, UK spin Vienna talks on JCPOA to appease Israeli regime

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh says Washington and London spin the goals of the ongoing Vienna talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in order to appease the Israeli regime, which is the sworn enemy of the agreement.

“To appease the sworn enemy of JCPOA, UK/US FMs spin goals of #ViennaTalks. Disappointing!” Khatibzadeh wrote in a tweet on Thursday, referring to the nuclear deal by its official acronym.

The Joint Comprehensive Action (JCPOA) was signed in July 2015 between Iran and six world powers, including the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. It was abandoned in May 2018 by the former administration in the US, in a move strongly supported by the Tel Aviv regime.

The Vienna talks, which began in early April, are aimed at bringing the US back into the deal, under a new administration that has promised to rejoin the deal and repeal Washington’s hostile “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran.

Khatibzadeh further reminded the parties to the JCPOA that the “brutal Israeli regime” has done its utmost to torpedo the deal.

“Instead of eroding your credibility, focus on reviving the original deal—the ONLY solution on the table,” Khatibzadeh added.

In recent weeks, Washington and London have been in close contact with Israel over the revival of the JCPOA, with Israel still overtly opposing the move.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a joint press event with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday that Washington should avoid rejoining the JCPOA, claiming that the deal paves the way for Iran to develop nuclear weapons, an allegation that Iran has categorically rejected throughout the years.

Blinken, for his part, said the US will try to rejoin the JCPOA nevertheless, but he added that the US and Israel continue to work together to counter what he claimed as "Iran’s destabilizing actions in the region.”

He also said the US is “consulting closely with Israel as we did today on the ongoing negotiations in Vienna around a potential return to the Iran nuclear agreement.”

Also, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Tuesday visited Israel, where he reiterated London’s commitment to Tel Aviv’s security and underlined the importance of a “stronger nuclear deal” with Iran, which has been time and again rejected by Tehran.

Araghchi to Press TV: We still not confident a conclusion possible for Vienna talks

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he is still not confident a conclusion would be possible for talks on the revival of a 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

JCPOA parties meet with US delegation

Meanwhile, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said that the JCPOA participating states, excluding Iran, met earlier in the day with the US delegation to discuss current states of affairs at the Vienna talks.

“The #JCPOA Participating States (without #Iran) met today with the #US delegation,” Ulyanov tweeted on Thursday.

“We exchanged views on the current states of affairs at the Vienna talks with special emphasis on implementation aspects of a future agreement which is at an advanced stage of elaboration,” he added.

Tehran has criticized the Joe Biden administration for failing to remove all the sanctions imposed after the JCPOA went into effect, saying Washington is using the Donald Trump-imposed sanctions as leverage in the Vienna talks.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that lifting Trump’s sanctions is not negotiating leverage but a legal and moral obligation.

Addressing the US administration officials, Zarif said the sanctions did not work for Trump and will not work for the Biden administration as well.

“Trump’s legacy is past its expiration date. Drop it, @POTUS,” he said, directly addressing the US president.

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