Face of Nation : Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ruled out holding any bilateral talks with the United Statesand threatened to further cut commitments to the country’s crumbling nuclear deal with world powers within days.
In an address to parliament on Tuesday, Rouhani, however, said that if Washington lifted all sanctions it reimposed on Iran after withdrawing unilaterally from the 2015 deal, then it could join multilateral talks between the remaining signatories to the landmark accord.
“Maybe there has been a misunderstanding. We have said it several times and we repeat it – there has been no decision to hold bilateral talks with the US,” said Rouhani. “In principle, we do not want bilateral talks with the United States,” he added.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been rising since May last year following US President Donald Trump‘s controversial decision to pull out of the deal and the subsequent reimposition of crippling sanctions aimed at strangling Iran’s economy.
Trump, although applying “maximum pressure” on Iran, has offered to meet its leaders and hold bilateral talks with no pre-conditions. The two countries were on the cusp of confrontation in June when Iran downed a US drone and Trump ordered retaliatory attacks before cancelling them at the last minute.
In his remarks, Rouhani also said Iran was ready to further reduce its commitments to the accord for the third time “in the coming days” if current negotiations with European signatories to the deal yielded no results by Thursday.
“If Europeans can purchase our oil or pre-purchase it and we can have access to our money, that will ease the situation and we can fully implement the deal … otherwise, we will take our third step,” he said. In response to the US sanctions, Iran has already increased its uranium enrichment and stockpiles.
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said the third countermeasure was signalled to be the strongest step taken in scaling back Iran’s commitment to the nuclear deal.
“And because of this they expect very strong international reaction from the international community,” she said. In parliament, Rouhani stressed the Iranian countermeasures were reversible. “Our steps have been taken in such a way that it does not take much time to get back to the starting point,” he said.
European parties to the deal have struggled to save the deal by shielding Iran’s economy from the sanctions, as well as calm the deepening confrontation between the US and Iran.
France has been leading efforts to reduce tensions, with President Emmanuel Macronexpressing hope during G7 talks in late August of organising a meeting between Rouhani and Trump. Rouhani has had a series of phone calls with Macron in recent weeks aimed at salvaging the nuclear deal.
