Iran Has 'Nothing New To Say' About Nuclear Talks

Iranian government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi says the Islamic Republic will not leave the negotiating table in Vienna until its rights are met.

Jahromi told IRNA on Sunday that, "We currently have nothing new to say about the Vienna Talks" to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and the world powers.

He made the remarks as reports say the Unites States is getting closer to admitting the failure of the talks while many US lawmakers are calling on the administration to walk out of the talks.

Apparently implying that the nuclear talks are not the Iran’s top priority, he said, “Negotiations are one of the current issues on the table of the Islamic Republic along with other issues in the international arena”.

“Iran will never back down from international diplomatic mechanisms until it fully and comprehensively protects the rights of the nation”, Jahromi added.

Negative news on the talks would be very harmful to the government’s effort to defend the battered currency, rial, which is close to its all-time low against major currencies. Annual inflation, already above 40 percent, could completely get out of hand if the rial crosses the 300,000-rial threshold against the US dollar. It currently trades around 280,000.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman last Monday called for some sort of renewal of the nuclear talks, telling the public that Europeans, Russia and China have no objection to an agreement and only Washington is delaying the process.