Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warns that “sanctions” or “sabotage reactions” will not affect negotiations with the US on Iran’s nuclear program.
He responds after the alleged cyberattack on the nuclear site in Natanz. Iran is already looking in the direction of Israel as a possible perpetrator.
Zarif says the attack in Natanz will not affect talks about sanctions against Iran. He had a conversation about this with his Russian colleague Sergei Lavrov.
Negotiations are currently underway in the Austrian capital Vienna to restart the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union. That agreement should put an end to the Iranian nuclear program.
In 2018, the previous US president Trump unilaterally cancelled that agreement on the Iranian nuclear program, and the US introduced sanctions against Iran. However, new president Joe Biden wants to accord a new chance and restarted talks with Iran. Iran wants the US to lift the sanctions first before a new agreement can be reached.
The US is pushing the problem back to Iran, making the nuclear deal a precondition for lifting international sanctions. “If the Israelis thought they could stop Iran’s efforts to get sanctions against our people lifted, they were guessing wrong,” Zarif insists.