The new Raisi administration in Iran is preparing to return to nuclear talks without the thought of presenting any concessions that would encourage Washington to extend or expand the deal so that it tackles the cleric-led country’s ballistic missiles program and regional interferences.
On Sunday, Tehran lawmaker Esmaeil Kousari said that under President Ebrahim Raisi, the new government will continue “holding negotiations” but “without giving any compromises.”
“If nuclear weapons are bad, they should be considered as bad for all countries, including the US,” said Kousari, who is also a prominent figure from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
“They tell us to quit our influence in the region and not to have missiles(…) If it were decided for us not to have these missiles, then they must not have them either,” argued Kousari in a statement to government website “Asr Iran.”
Kousari moved on to clarify that halting nuclear talks is not planned and stressed that “negotiations will take place.”
“However, if they don’t want to treat us fairly, we won’t accept,” said the legislator.
Kousari’s statements come when parliament is looking to deliberate over the cabinet list submitted by Raisi, which introduces Hossein Amir Abdollahian, a diplomat who is close to the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, as Iran’s next foreign minister.
Before Raisi named Abdollahian as his pick for foreign minister, the veteran diplomat had held a two-hour discussion session with the EU point man on the Vienna nuclear talks, Enrique Mora. The session was held on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of Raisi.
After meeting Mora, Abdollahian tweeted that “negotiating with the US was never forbidden, but that the problem rather lies in the US’ bullying.”
Abdollahian also emphasized that “timing and force” are the two main pillars of any diplomatic negotiation.
In his tweet, the Foreign Minister-designate attached a photo from the 2006-2007 rare US-Iran talks over the war in Iraq.
