Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Calls For End To Sanctions To Start Negotiations
Radiofarda – Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister has told the Independent that Iran might start negotiations with the United States if Washington lifts the sanctions it has imposed on Iran.
Abbas Araqchi (Araghchi) told the Independent on Sunday September 22, "Stopping the economic war can lead to real negotiations."
Demanding the lifting of U.S. sanctions, Araqchi added that not only Iran, but no other country will negotiate under pressure.
Late Sunday in New York, CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour in a tweet quoted Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif as also saying that President Hassan Rouhani may meet Donald Trump if the United States stops its sanctions.
Elsewhere, he explained that Iran's answer to the U.S. policy of "maximum pressure" is resorting to "maximum resistance."
Araqchi stressed that if the United States replaces economic pressure with military pressure, then "Iran will turn to military resistance."
The United States pulled out of the West's nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and subsequently imposed sanctions on Iran in the hope of starting negotiations for a new deal with Iran to curb its nuclear and missile programs and harness its regional ambitions.
Since then, tensions have been growing between Tehran and Washington and its allies in the Persian Gulf. In the meantime, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has prohibited negotiations with the United States, unless Washington returns to the nuclear deal also called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).