Iranian President: ‘Direct Talks with US Available’ to Restore Nuclear Deal – Chicago Korea Times

▶ First domestic and foreign press conference after taking office
▶ “We can’t give up the missile program”
▶ Mentioned “We are brothers with Americans too”

Iranian President Masoud Pezekian said on the 16th that direct talks with the United States are possible to restore the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action).

At a press conference with domestic and foreign reporters that day, when asked whether he would be open to direct talks with the United States to restore the 2015 JCPOA, President Pezeshkian responded, “It is possible if the United States actually demonstrates that it is not hostile to Iran,” Reuters reported.

“We are not hostile to the United States, and the United States should actually show good will and end its hostile policy toward us,” he said, adding, “We are also brothers with the Americans.”

At a press conference in Tehran on the same day, President Pezeshyan cited joining the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and restoring the JCPOA as measures to improve Iran’s foreign relations and resolve its economic difficulties, Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reported.

He also said he would work with international partners to resolve disputes surrounding the FATF and JCPOA.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry previously mentioned the UN General Assembly meeting this month as a time to discuss restoring the JCPOA.

The JCPOA is an agreement signed in 2015 between Iran and six countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, and Germany. Its essence is that Western countries ease economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iran partially freezing or reducing its nuclear program.

Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement reached during the Barack Obama administration in 2018 after taking office and rolled back sanctions against Iran.

President Joe Biden has pushed to restore the JCPOA since taking office, but the deal has been difficult to reach as Iran has advanced its nuclear program in response to the restoration of sanctions, and the agreement is effectively abandoned.

President Pezeshkian, who had pledged during his election campaign to resolve Iran’s economic difficulties by lifting sanctions through negotiations with the West, appointed Abbas Araghchi, one of the key figures in the nuclear deal, as foreign minister, raising expectations that Iran and the West will resume negotiations.

Meanwhile, President Pezeshkian said, “We have never sent such a missile to Yemen,” regarding the previous day’s claim that Yemen’s Houthi rebels had fired a hypersonic ballistic missile targeting Israel.

However, he added that Iran would not give up its missile program for the sake of its security, Reuters reported.