Iran ready to take final steps for nuclear agreement if red lines respected: Iranian FM

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said that if the red lines of the Islamic Republic are respected, Iran is ready to take final steps to reach an agreement on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.

He added on Wednesday that there was an opportunity to discuss issues related to the lifting of anti-Iran sanctions with EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and EU coordinator for the nuclear talks Enrique Mora during the visit to Jordan, according to the official IRNA news agency.

"Our understanding is that the parties (to the nuclear deal) are returning to realism, and we also announced that if our red lines are respected, we are ready to take the final steps to reach an agreement," Amir-Abdollahian told reporters at the conclusion of his visit to Amman, where he attended the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership.

He said that over the last months, the US has repeatedly declared its preference for the final steps of all parties for the return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but they behaved "hypocritically in the media".

In the meeting with Borrell and Mora, the Iranian side talked about all these issues and emphasised that "if the US claims for diplomatic follow-up (of Vienna talks) is true, they cannot do other ways using media for extracting concessions" from Iran, Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. The US, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the deal, Xinhua news agency reported.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna. No breakthrough was achieved after the latest round of talks in early August.