Tehran 0
2 March 2021

President Rouhani, speaking to his French counterpart, reiterated that Iran’s JCPOA breaches “can be returned immediately after the fulfilment of the obligations of the other parties”. He further warned that “any unconstructive action or position in the [IAEA] Board of Governors could lead to new challenges and complicate the current situation”. Rouhani also noted that U.S. “sanctions has made it more difficult for Iran to deal with this [COVID-19] disease and made it difficult for the Islamic Republic to access its financial resources, even for the supply of medicine and medical equipment”. According to an Iranian readout, the French president “stressed the need for the continuation of the talks in order for all parties to return to the full implementation of their commitments” and indicated: “Europe is ready to be more active in the coming weeks to revive the JCPOA”. Relatedly, an Iranian government spokesperson contended that “the U.S. has so far avoided taking the slightest step toward confidence-building… Iran is ready to hear any logical and honest suggestion for settling the differences, but it needs to see some action”.

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