Iran's FM says lifting sanctions, respecting nuclear rights necessary for resuming U.S. talks

TEHRAN, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday that his country is ready to resume indirect negotiations with the United States if sanctions are lifted and Tehran's right to use nuclear technology for "peaceful" purposes is respected.

He made the remarks in a meeting with members of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, the official news agency IRNA quoted Yaghoub Rezazadeh, a member of the commission, as saying.

The foreign minister said that "in case the sanctions are lifted and Iran's right to use peaceful nuclear technology is respected, indirect negotiations with the United States will be held before raising the issue of (triggering) the snapback mechanism in October," according to the lawmaker.

The snapback mechanism is a clause in a 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that would allow the other parties to re-impose all international sanctions should Iran fail to comply with the agreement.

Araghchi added that planning had been done for negotiations between Iran and Russia on the former's nuclear program, and a meeting between Iran's representatives and those of the three European countries of France, Britain and Germany was scheduled to take place in Istanbul on Friday for talks on the same issue, according to Rezazadeh.

Iran signed the JCPOA in July 2015 with six countries -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States. Under the deal, Tehran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to reduce compliance with its nuclear commitments gradually.