Tehran Responds to Sullivan: We Did Not Negotiate Directly with Washington
Iran
London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Monday said no direct messages or talks had been exchanged between Iran and the United States during the Vienna talks that were launched last April. The spokesman further clarified that any messages concerning the negotiation have been delivered to Iran through European Union deputy foreign policy chief Enrique Mora. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that talks for Iran to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal are “not going well,” offering a blunt assessment as European negotiators warn time is running out on negotiations. “It’s not going well in the sense that we do not yet have a pathway back into the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA],” Sullivan said at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. “Getting that program back into a box through a return to mutual compliance with the JCPOA has proven more difficult through the course of this year than we would have liked to see,” Sullivan said, adding that Iran was racing in its nuclear program. Last week, Iran's Fars News Agency quoted a source close to the negotiations as saying that the talks were “ongoing despite the slow negotiation process.” The source revealed that the US delegation “presented two papers through European mediators, and the Iranian delegation responded to them in 12 pages.” Moreover, the source denied Iran having intentions for enriching uranium to a level of 90%. “Iran is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that abides by its commitments stipulated in the Non-Proliferation Treaty,” it said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Everything Iran has done is in line with international agreements,” it added. “The IAEA was informed of all of our steps,” the source confirmed. For his part, Khatibzadeh said that Iran’s enrichment of uranium is based on the country’s “peaceful” activities.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/3370811/tehran-responds-sullivan-we-did-not-negotiate-directly-washington
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