“The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to engage in negotiations, while preserving its red lines, to uphold the rights of the Iranian people and lift sanctions based on the September document,” he said on Tuesday.
The September document refers to the draft agreement that was prepared last fall as part of months-long negotiations in Vienna to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the formal name of the nuclear deal, and remove the sanctions against Iran.
The negotiations, however, stalled as the United States refused to guarantee that it would not leave the agreement again, as it did in 2018.
Amirabdollahian, meanwhile, said Iran is not only pursuing avenues to lift the illegal sanctions but is also doing its utmost to render them ineffective.
“We are not at the point of a temporary agreement today, and what has happened is the proud retrieval of Iran’s assets in two intervals, from the UK and South Korea,” he added.
Billions of dollars owed to Iran for oil and other exports have been blocked in foreign banks since 2018 when the US abandoned the JCPOA and re-imposed sanctions against the country.
Iran has been holding indirect talks with the United States, mediated by Qatar, to unfreeze its assets illegally blocked overseas.
The two sides have reached an agreement to release $6 billion of Iranian funds held in South Korea, with Washington issuing a sanctions waiver for international banks to transfer the unfrozen funds to be wired into Qatari banks.
During the course of the Qatari-mediated talks, Iran and the US have also made a prisoner exchange deal.
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