JAKARTA - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday Tehran wants to see action, not promises, to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers.
"I have told our negotiators that actions, not promises, are necessary for the restoration of the nuclear deal," Khamenei said in a televised address to mark the 32nd anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Iran and global powers have been in talks since early April to bring the United States back into the pact and return Tehran to full compliance with the deal.
Khamenei also touched on Iran's presidential election this month, which faced calls for a boycott, after only conservative and hardline candidates were allowed to run.
He urged people to participate in the June 18 vote, saying failure to do so would be a 'sin', according to Iran's Tasnim news agency.
Limiting candidacy to just seven candidates is expected to boost prospects for Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's judiciary chief close to Khamenei, but add to public discontent over the US-sanctioned economy and the Middle East's biggest coronavirus.
President Hassan Rouhani, who has served two consecutive terms allowed under the constitution, and his moderate allies have blamed much of Iran's economic woes on US sanctions and have given top priority to reviving the 2015 Nuclear Deal.
Khamenei's conservative and hardline allies place the blame squarely on the government, and insist that Washington cannot be trusted to fulfill any deal.
Far back, former US president Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018 and reimposed sanctions lifted under the agreement.
In response, Tehran has built up a stockpile of enriched uranium beyond the limits set by the pact, enriching it to higher purity levels and installing advanced centrifuges to speed up production.
Iran has pressured EU members Britain, France and Germany, the pact's remaining signatories along with Russia and China, to take steps against US sanctions.
Meanwhile, Washington entered indirect talks with Tehran to revive the deal after US President Joe Biden took office in January.
The European Union envoy coordinating the talks said on Wednesday he believed a deal would be reached in the sixth round in Vienna next week, but the US State Department expected further discussions would be needed.
"I think almost every hope that there will be a next round beyond that," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
As for Iran's main negotiator at the talks, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said a number of key issues remained to be resolved.
"Overall, we are making good progress, but there are remaining issues, without which an agreement cannot be reached, and which has not yet been decided," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency quoted Araqchi as saying after the fifth meeting ended on Thursday.
"It's not us, but the signatories to the JCPOA and the United States who have to make their own tough decisions and adapt to the position of the Islamic Republic," he concluded.
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