Guarantee issue important for Iran in nuke talks: FM

TEHRAN, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign minister has reaffirmed that the guarantee issue is very important to Iran in the negotiations on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in a recent interview with the U.S. National Public Radio (NPR), the text of which was released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry on its website on Thursday.

"The current situation was created by former U.S. President Donald Trump, and incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden has, like Trump, imposed on average one or two sanctions against Iran on a monthly basis, during its indirect participation in the nuclear negotiations over the past months," Amir-Abdollahian told NPR.

"We maintain that diplomacy is the solution and are serious and persistent about reaching a robust and lasting agreement," he said.

However, the agreement draft the United States sent to Iran contained a large number of ambiguities, the Iranian foreign minister said, adding Iran is "serious about an agreement, but we don't know if the American side has the necessary realism and courage to make its decision."

Commenting on the exchange of prisoners with the United States, Amir-Abdollahian said Tehran maintains that the issue is separate from the nuclear deal and is a completely humanitarian one.

"We are ready to exchange prisoners any time the American side expresses its preparedness," he noted.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to curb its nuclear program in return for removing sanctions on the country. However, Washington quit the agreement and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to drop some of its commitments under the pact.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival 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 its final text of the draft decision on reviving the JCPOA. Iran and the United States later indirectly exchanged views on the EU proposal in a process that has so far failed to produce any favorable outcome.