Iran demands "serious" economic guarantees from U.S. in nuclear talks: spokesman

TEHRAN, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Wednesday that for the talks to save the 2015 nuclear deal, the United States should give guarantees for securing Iran's economic interests under a possible agreement, according to official IRNA news agency.

"The ground is ready for an agreement, and we believe that there is no important problem to this end," he said during his press conference.

Washington should make a political decision, Kanaani said, adding that Iran demands "serious" guarantees from the United States.

On the recent indirect talks between Iran and the United States in the Qatari capital Doha, he refuted Western reports about the "inconclusiveness" of the talks, saying that contrary to the claims "the Doha negotiations were good negotiations and opened the way for the continuation of negotiations and a nuclear agreement."

Josep Borrell, foreign policy chief of the European Union, and the Iranian side are following up on the issue to prepare the ground for the continuation of the next round of negotiations, he noted.

Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Vienna between Iran and the remaining parties to the 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Iran signed the JCPOA with the world powers in July 2015 accepting to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on Tehran. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed Washington's unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting Iran to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the agreement in retaliation.

The talks, which were suspended in March, were mediated by the European Union to be continued bilaterally between Iran and the United States in Doha in June, however, the indirect talks did not bear tangible results.