Tehran, IRNA – Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Tuesday that Iran has not yet received a reliable and practical initiative from the US on the issue of guarantees.
Amirabdollahian made the remarks on the sidelines of the 58th Munich Security Conference in Germany during an interview with CNN, saying that the Islamic Republic is optimistic because the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi is serious to achieve a good agreement in Vienna, Austria.
The Iranian foreign minister went on to say that Iran tried hard to reach a good agreement and that in the sensitive situation if the US and other Western parties do not take a realistic stance, they will be definitely responsible for the possible failure of the negotiations.
He noted that to get close to the good agreement in Vienna, a lot of initiatives and flexibilities have been shown by the Iranian delegation. Now it is the turn of the US and the Western sides to show initiative and flexibility.
In reaction to the question about the reason for the lack of direct negotiations between Iran and the US, Amirabdollahian said that there is a tall wall of mistrust between Iran and the US, adding that the US needs to change its behavior.
He added that “Mr. Biden cannot speak of goodwill and on the other side, only in the past few months, he imposed new sanctions against Iran’s legal and real entities three times. This means that Mr. Biden is following the method of Mr. Trump and continuing the sanctions. But at the same time, he is interested in returning to the JCPOA. So, we cannot understand these paradoxical behaviors”.
“American officials talking about goodwill and then imposing sanctions. Therefore, we have the right to monitor the behavior of the Americans and judge them accordingly,” Amirabdollahian noted.
He further noted that “in September, when I was in New York, I said if Mr. Biden had goodwill and was serious, as a gesture of goodwill, he should show a practical initiative, for instance, by unfreezing some of the Iranian assets.”
“We are not asking Mr. Biden to give us loans through the US banks. While we want him to release the funds that are owned by the Iranians as a gesture of goodwill,” he reiterated.
Referring to the issue of repayment of British debt to Tehran in exchange for the release of one of the prisoners, Amirabdollahian said that “for us, the issue of swapping prisoners is completely a humanitarian issue. Last year, there was an agreement based on which prisoners were supposed to be exchanged, regardless of the Vienna talks. But unfortunately, at the last minute, the Americans announced that all of this should be included in a complete package. So, the release didn’t take place”.
He added that “maybe the Americans are interested in covering the issue of exchange of prisoners as part of the Vienna negotiations. We believe this is a humanitarian issue and can be considered as an urgent measure outside the Vienna negotiations”.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency – IRNA
