TEHRAN, Iran – President Joe Biden is pursuing the same policy against Iran as his predecessor, the country’s foreign minister said on Sunday, two days before Tehran threatened to restrict UN inspections of its nuclear facilities.
In an interview with the English-speaking news agency Press TV, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that former President Donald Trump’s policy of ‘maximum pressure’ is still being applied to Iran.
“The United States is addicted to sanctions, but they need to know that Iran will not give in to pressure,” Zarif said. “We are not looking for nuclear weapons.”
He reiterates Tehran’s position that Washington should take the first step in reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with the world powers, which provides relief for sanctions against Iran in exchange for its agreement to curtail its nuclear program.
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in May 2018 and imposed harsh sanctions in an effort to isolate Iran and drastically cut oil exports.
In response, Iran began violating some of the key limits of the agreement, and in December, lawmakers in the country passed a bill that would suspend part of the UN inspections of its nuclear facilities if signatories did not sign sanctions on February 23. do not grant Tuesday.
Iran will also block an additional protocol that will allow UN inspectors to conduct more in-depth inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Zarif insisted that this would not mean Iran abandoning the agreement, but he said the US should continue to lift sanctions to save the treaty. “All our steps are reversible,” he said.
Biden’s government announced last week that it was ready to hold talks with other world powers and Iran to discuss the deal, but the countries were at odds over who should take the first step.
Zarif’s comparison of Biden’s approach to Trump’s tactics on Iran is a sign of dissatisfaction with the pace and attitude of the Biden government, said Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, a research fellow in the Middle East at the Royal United Services Institute. A London brainstorm, said.
“There was optimism that Biden’s government would act faster on Iran,” Tabrizi said. “Instead, one month later, it only prepared to take part in conversations last week – and it will probably take some time to translate conversations into something concrete.”
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Meanwhile, the head of the UN’s watchdog, Rafael Grossi, met with Iran’s nuclear program chief on Sunday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said last week that the visit was aimed at “finding a solution for the IAEA that reciprocally agrees to continue the essential verification activities in the country.” ‘
Grossi is expected to brief the media later Sunday on the results of the talks.
Prior to the meeting, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Iranian state TV on Saturday that the purpose of Grossi’s visit was to minimize ‘possible damages’ to cooperation between Tehran and the IAEA.
He added that nuclear inspections would be reduced by 20 percent to 30 percent after Tuesday, but that it would still continue.
Amin Khodadadi reports from Tehran, Yuliya Talmazan from London.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
