Raisi Says Iran Serious About Resuming Talks on Nuclear Deal

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that Iran is serious about resuming negotiations to reinstate its nuclear agreement with the world powers in Vienna though he did not specify when this would occur. Raisi made the comments during an interview on Monday night on state television. But he added that Iran wants to see “seriousness” on the part of the United States, in the form of the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

The Raisi interview comes a day after two Iranian lawmakers said that nuclear talks would resume at the end of the week in Brussels, an announcement that the European Union rejected. But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday night that there were no talks scheduled for this week and that any serious talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action would take place in Vienna.

“We made it clear to the Iranians that time is not on their side and it’s better to go back to the negotiating table quickly,” Borrell said.

Iran halted several months of negotiations on re-upping its nuclear deal with the world powers, which opened in Vienna in April, which would have seen the United States rejoin the agreement it left in 2018, ahead of August’s poll which saw the election of Raisi. EU political director Enrique Mora, who is coordinating the nuclear talks, was in Tehran past weel to meet with Raisi’s negotiating team,

Iranian member of parliament Ahmad Alirezabeigui on Sunday after a private meeting with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told the Fars news agency that the talks will resume on Thursday in Brussels with Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany. Another Iranian lawmaker, Behrouz Mohebbi Najmabadi, said on Twitter that negotiations would resume “this week.”