Tehran:  Iran's chief negotiator said Sunday that the United States must eliminate sanctions in exchange for the country's readmission to the 2015 nuclear deal.

One of the key goals of the Vienna negotiations was to "define the parameters that the Americans must follow," according to Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's deputy foreign minister, who spoke to the IRNA in Vienna. Once those requirements are agreed upon, the Americans will be responsible for carrying them through, with the elimination of "the iniquitous and illegal sanctions" being the most important prerequisite, he stressed. The sides' positions in the talks diverge on various matters, but Bagheri Kani observed that the scope of the topics that can be discussed has narrowed in recent days.

The Iranian chief negotiator expressed optimism about the future of the talks, despite "non-constructive comments" from three European participants to the talks. However, he noted, "hostile, illegal, destructive, and even barbaric conduct by some parties," as well as existing hostility, exclude any naiveté about the process ahead.

The seventh round of talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), began on November 29 in Vienna with Iran and other remaining parties after the US government, led by former President Donald Trump, withdrew from the agreement in 2018.

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