Iran has no will to “compromise” its stance in ongoing indirect negotiations with the United States to restore its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran’s foreign ministry said, rejecting reports that claimed otherwise.
Earlier, several reports indicated that Iran expressed its willingness to lower its expectations in a meeting with Qatar’s emir.
Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Saturday denied such claims and explained that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made no mention of compromise to Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, when they met in Tehran earlier this month.
Khamenei told the emir “we have always said the negotiations must yield results, not waste time”, and “the Americans know what they need to do regarding this”, Khatibzadeh told the semi-official Tasnim news website.
“It is very clear from the context of the leader’s remarks that the ball is in the US court, which must make wise political decisions to fulfill its obligations,” he said.
Talks to revive Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have been on hold since March.
Last week, EU envoy for nuclear talks Enrique Mora arrived back in Europe after a visit to Tehran. Speaking of his achievements, Josep Borrell, High Representative of EU’s Foreign Affairs said Iran's response had been "positive enough" after Mora had delivered a message that things could not continue as they were.
"These things cannot be resolved overnight," Borrell told reporters at a G7 foreign ministers meeting in northern Germany. "Let's say the negotiations were blocked and they have been de-blocked and that means there is the perspective of reaching a final agreement."
There have been no reports of restoring the negotiations since last week’s optimistic remarks by European officials.
