Officials Say Iran In Strong Position In Nuclear Talks, No Interim Deal

Iran's ambassador To Moscow, Kazem Jalali has refuted reports that Russia has suggested Iran should accept an interim nuclear agreement with the United States.

Jalali said that Russia has not put forward the idea of accepting an interim agreement during President Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Moscow last week. He added that reports about such a suggestion were lies, and therefore wrong.

He accused the media of knowing nothing about the content of the talks between the two presidents.

Reports have suggested that Russia has suggested to Iran to accept an interim agreement that would freeze its nuclear activities in return for partial sanctions relief by the United States.

According to the semi-official news agency ISNA, Jalali added that both Russia and Iran disagree with American unilateralism, and this is what has brought Iran closer to Russia. He said Iran has resisted the West's unilateralism during the past 43 years and has paid a high price for that.

At the same time, the spokesman for the Iranian parliament's national Security and Foreign Policy Committee, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini said in an interview with Khabar Online website in Tehran on Sunday, that a nuclear agreement in Vienna is within reach and Iran and the United States will reach a deal before the Iranian New Year which starts on March 20.

Meshkini said "Iran has some golden cards to put on the table in Vienna," insisting that Iran has defeated the US sanctions and has solid ties with Russia and China. He added: "Although the United States wishes to impose a bad agreement on us, we believe a win-win nuclear agreement is within reach in Vienna."

Meshkini added that Iran's situation in the negotiations is "very good," adding that "Iran is in control of the negotiations and has the upper hand in the talks and its negotiators enjoy strong backing."

"The United States should accept the Islamic Republic as a reality and should know that Iran will not accept a bad agreement, "Meshkini said, adding that "an agreement will be made before March 20 although it is not important when we are going to reach that agreement. What is significant is that we reach a good agreement. " Meanwhile he reassured Khabar Online that "We have good initiatives and will manage the negotiations."

He argued that following the December 2020 legislation that called for boosting uranium enrichment and reducing Iran's commitments under the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran regained freedom of action over stockpiling enriched uranium and the type and number of centrifuges. In the meantime, the coming to power of a new hardliner "revolutionary" government in Tehran as well as Tehran's alliance with the East, offered some golden cards to Iran to put on the negotiating table.

Meshkini continued with a certain optimism that: "The sanctions were the West's most powerful and dangerous tool. But we circumvented them by forging an alliance with the East. Iran, Russia and China are the three pillars of the Eastern bloc which is becoming more and more powerful on a daily basis." He added that Iran's agreement with China includes more than $500 billion in Chinese investments in Iran's strategic industries.

Iran's ambassador in Moscow had also said in his interview that the West is annoyed by the alliance between Iran, Russia and China, calling Iran "an influential regional power."