In his first news conference since winning election last week, Iran’s President-elect Ebrahim Raisi said that he will not allow nuclear talks for the sake of talks.
Raisi also ruled out meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden, but claimed there were “no obstacles” to establishing diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, which have been strained for the past five years.
“Any negotiations that guarantee national interests will certainly be supported, but… we will not allow negotiations to be for negotiations’ sake,” Raisi said of the nuclear talks. “Any meeting must produce a result… for the Iranian nation,” he added.
Iran agreed to limit its nuclear capabilities in exchange for reducing sanctions under the 2015 agreement, but former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew three years later and increased penalties, causing the Islamic republic to back out of its nuclear commitments.
Biden, Trump’s successor, has expressed willingness to return to the agreement, and state parties — including the United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, and Russia — have been negotiating its rebirth in Vienna recently.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, said there was “no reason to believe” Raisi’s government would adopt a “different position” in the negotiations than its predecessor. When asked by a Russian news outlet if he would meet with Biden to try to “fix” their differences if the nuclear talks resulted in the US removing sanctions on Iran, Putin bluntly said, “No.”
Raisi also stated that his administration would be ready to normalising relations with Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional adversary.
“There are no obstacles from Iran’s side to re-opening embassies… there are no obstacles to ties with Saudi Arabia,” he said.
In 2016, Iranian protestors assaulted Saudi diplomatic missions in response to the kingdom’s death of a revered Shia cleric. Ties between Tehran and Riyadh were severed.
Baghdad has been hosting meetings between the two parties to repair tensions since April.
Raisi, who is under US sanctions over the 1988 executions of political prisoners, has always denied any involvement in the crimes.
