Iran to consider "other options" if West delays nuclear agreement

By Trend

A senior Iranian lawmaker on Sunday urged Western countries to refrain from delays in reaching a nuclear agreement, warning that otherwise, Iran would consider "other options", Trend reports citing Xinhua

Mahmoud Abbaszadeh Meshkini, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told the official IRNA news agency that a win-win agreement is important for securing Iran's national interests.

"The Westerners need negotiations more than Iran ... if the Western side does not make an agreement, we have other options on the table, and Iran's hands are not empty in this regard," he noted.

"Any agreement that deprives and limits Iran of the desired privileges will not be accepted by the Iranian nation," he added.

In response to the question about safeguard issues, he said that solving the safeguards issues can "repair the damaged wall of trust between Iran and the West."

Iran has repeatedly said that reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about traces of uranium in some of its nuclear sites in the past are "political" and this case should be closed simultaneously with the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran and the United States are indirectly exchanging views about a recent EU proposal aimed at resolving the outstanding issues on the revival of the JCPOA.

Iran signed the deal with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions on the country. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal began in April 2021 in Vienna but were suspended in March this year because of political differences between Tehran and Washington.

The latest round of the nuclear talks was held in the Austrian capital in early August after a five-month hiatus. On Aug. 8, the EU put forward a "final text" of the draft decision on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.