Iran’s FM Rejects Protracted JCPOA Talks - Tasnim News Agency

(Tasnim) – Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif ruled out the possibility of protracted talks in the negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, stressing that the timing and duration of talks are defined by the national interests only.

In a post in Persian language posted on his Instagram page, Zarif thanked Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei for supporting the Iranian negotiators, who are in Vienna to discuss the issues surrounding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The Leader’s recent remarks “once again, as in previous difficult times, revived hopes and made (our) steps stronger,” Zarif said.

“The Leader’s advice to refrain from ‘attritional negotiations’ has always been a beacon for us,” Zarif said.

"We considered ‘negotiations for the sake of negotiations’ a failed experience and we negotiated only to achieve national goals," he underlined.

In remarks on Wednesday, Ayatollah Khamenei warned against protracted talks with the participant parties to the JCPOA, namely France, the UK, Germany, Russia and China, saying he has directed Iranian negotiators to proceed with the talks for now.

“The fact that the Americans talk about engaging in direct and indirect negotiations (with Iran) is not because they want to negotiate to accept the truth, rather they want to negotiate to impose their wrongful argument” on Iran, the Leader warned.