Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Thursday that his country will not retreat from its “red lines” in indirect talks with the US, Al Arabiya reported.
“The exchange of messages between us and the Americans is taking place through the European Union… we have repeatedly emphasized that Iran does not pay attention to [the US’] excessive demands and is not willing to retreat from its red lines,” he was quoted as having said in a phone call with his Syrian counterpart.
“The path of diplomacy is working well, and we are not far from reaching a good and lasting agreement,” Amir-Abdollahian added.
Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal, in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018, but has held several rounds of indirect talks with the US on a return to the agreement.
Negotiations nearly reached completion last month before Moscow demanded that its trade with Iran be exempted from Western sanctions over Ukraine, throwing the process into disarray.
Last month it was reported that the Biden administration is considering removing terrorism sanctions from the IRGC as part of negotiations to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
However, a subsequent report in The Washington Post said that the Biden administration plans to reject the Iranian demand.
On Monday, State Department spokesman Ned Price appeared to dismiss the Iranian demand regarding the IRGC blacklisting.
"If Iran wants sanctions lifting that goes beyond the JCPOA, they'll need to address concerns of ours that go beyond the JCPOA," Price said when asked about the issue.
"If they do not want to use these talks to resolve other bilateral issues, then we are confident we can very quickly reach an understanding on the JCPOA and begin to reimplement the deal itself," Price told reporters.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of the Seventh Day of Passover in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)