JAKARTA - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stressed that the United States' seriousness in the upcoming talks to restore the 2015 nuclear deal would mean lifting sanctions on Iran.

In a late-night interview broadcast on state television, President Raisi said Iran was serious and committed to returning to Vienna to continue talks on restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), although the timing had not yet been determined.

"For others, the readiness to lift sanctions could be a sign of its seriousness," President Ebrahim Raisi said, citing Al Jazeera, October 18.

President Raisi continued that when Enrique Mora, the EU's lead representative for the Vienna talks, traveled to Tehran last Thursday for discussions, he was told the same thing.

"The Islamic Republic is serious in this regard. We must also look at the seriousness on the other side," said President Raisi.

Earlier, Iran's Foreign Ministry said earlier this month it had no preconditions for returning to the 2015 Nuclear Deal negotiating table. Mora himself led a delegation holding talks with Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran's new deputy foreign minister for political affairs and its main nuclear negotiator.

Following the meeting, Iranian officials said the talks were 'positive and constructive', with them set to resume in Brussels within two weeks.

But, while Iran said it would return to the Austrian capital soon and was still reviewing the records of the six rounds of negotiations ending in June, the United States and the European Union continued to push Iran to commit to a return date.

On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, "We made it clear to Iran that time is not on their side and it is better to get back to the negotiating table quickly."

Sementara itu, juru bicara Kementerian Luar Negeri Iran Saeed Khatibzadeh mengatakan, tantangan dan hambatan yang tersisa setelah enam putaran pembicaraan perlu didiskusikan dengan pejabat Uni Eropa di Brussels sebelum kembali ke Wina.

Separately, in a post on Twitter over the weekend, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's lead negotiator for Vienna, said talks in Brussels could be seen as a preparatory step towards the resumption of real negotiations in Vienna and not as a substitute.

To note, the United States unilaterally left the JCPOA in 2018, imposing a wave of sanctions that blacklisted the entire Iranian financial system as part of the 'maximum pressure' campaign by former US President, Donald Trump.

In response, Iran restarted aspects of its nuclear program and is now more advanced than ever with enriched uranium reaching 60 percent purity.


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