Iran Hardliner Says US Must Lift Sanctions And Pay Damages Before Talks

A hardline member of Iran’s parliament has said that the United States must discharge its nuclear deal commitments before it returns to multilateral talks.

Fereydoun Abbasi, a former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization was quoted by Tasnim news agency close to the Revolutionary Guard as saying that the current government’s approach is different from the former president Hassan Rouhani’s administration.

“We should not look at America as the sheriff in town. If they want to negotiate with Iran, they should be just one country alongside other members of JCPOA,” Abbasi maintained. If the US intends to rejoin the 2015 nuclear agreement, it should also pay damages to Iran for having imposed sanctions, Abbasi added.

Iran suspended nuclear negotiations with World Powers in June when President Ebrahim Raisi won the presidential vote. As Tehran has delayed its return to the talks, it has continued enriching uranium and has boosted its stockpile.

This week a new date was set to resume the talks on November 29. Abbasi said that Iran should use both “soft and hard power” in this round of talks. “Soft power is people’s support and hard power is our nuclear and deterrent military progress,” the lawmaker emphasized.