Iran serious in talks with US, seeks no delay: Deputy FM

Tehran, April 21 (IANS) Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the country is serious in its indirect negotiations with the US and wants no delay in the diplomatic process.

Gharibabadi made the remarks at a meeting with the members of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in Tehran on Sunday, the official news agency IRNA quoted the committee's spokesperson, Ebrahim Rezaei, as saying.

Gharibabadi said that Tehran and Washington, during their second round of indirect talks in the Italian capital Rome on Saturday, discussed and agreed on "the overall framework, agenda, and (subsequent) technical talks."

According to Rezaei, the deputy foreign minister has stressed that "all sanctions (on Iran) should be lifted in a way that benefits the Iranian people economically," while emphasising that Tehran would not negotiate on its right to enrich uranium, which he said is "among the red lines."

The Rome talks and the previous round of Iran-US dialogue that took place in the Omani capital Muscat on April 12 have centered on Tehran's nuclear program and the removal of Washington's sanctions, Xinhua news agency reported.

The talks, hailed by both sides as "constructive," followed US President Donald Trump's threats to bomb Iran if the Middle Eastern country does not accept his offer for talks outlined in a letter sent to Iran's leadership in early March.

Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with six major countries -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States -- in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

However, the United States withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions, prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments. Efforts to revive the nuclear deal have not achieved substantial progress.

--IANS

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