TEHRAN — Iran's foreign minister said Monday that a
summit to take place this week in Jordan will be a "good opportunity"
for negotiations aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear accord.
اضافة اعلان
On-off talks to revive the deal, formally known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), started in April last year directly
between Iran and Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia, and indirectly
with the US.
But the indirect talks between the Washington and Tehran,
mediated by the EU, have stalled for several months with Iran facing protests
over the September 16 death in custody of MahsaAmini, a 22-year-old Iranian of
Kurdish origin.
"Jordan is a good opportunity for us to complete these
discussions," Iran's top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told reporters
in Tehran.
His comments come a day before Jordan hosts the
"Baghdad II" conference on Tuesday, bringing together key Middle East
and international players — including rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia — in a bid
to defuse regional tensions.
Amir-Abdollahian and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
are both expected to attend.
"I hope that... we will see a change of approach and
the American side will behave realistically," Amir-Abdollahian said.
"I say clearly to the Americans; that they must choose
between hypocrisy, and the request to reach an agreement and the United States'
return to the JCPOA," he added.
Meanwhile, a UN nuclear watchdog team led by deputy
director-general Massimo Aparo left Iran on Monday, after a one-day visit aimed
at resolving a years-long impasse over an enquiry into undeclared uranium
particles found in the country, ISNA news agency reported.
The International Atomic Energy Agency team met with Iranian
officials including Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization
of Iran, ISNA said.
The IAEA has for years been calling on Iran to explain the
presence of undeclared man-made uranium found at three sites, requesting access
and the collection of samples.
The two parties discussed "future cooperation"
among other issues, ISNA said.
The 2015 agreement gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange
for curbs on its nuclear program to guarantee that Tehran could not develop a
nuclear weapon — something it has always denied wanting to do.
But Washington unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018
under then-president Donald Trump, and the reimposition of biting economic
sanctions prompted Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.
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