good news iran: The 7th round of Vienna talks to be held under Iran’s new government

Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Saeed Khatibzadeh answered a question about Iranian deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s remarks over the next round of the JCPOA talks in Vienna and said, “Negotiations proceeded seriously in six rounds in Vienna. The talks were delayed due to the non-implementation of it by the United States, but it is natural based on democracy we should wait for the new administration to take office and move forward”.

Regarding the latest developments in Afghanistan and a new possible surge of Afghan migrants to the borders of Iran and some other countries in the region, he stressed, “We carefully control and monitor the situation at the borders. Afghanistan’s security is our security and the unrest in Afghanistan will not be tolerable for Iran”.

Regarding recent negotiations between Iran and Egypt, Khatibzadeh said, “There have always been contacts between Iran and Egypt and these contacts have never been interrupted”.

“I think the normalization of relations between Islamic countries is in the interest of the Islamic world and the region and we always welcome the normalization of relations between Islamic countries, the expansion of relations and the increase of communications within the framework,” he added.

On the verdict of the Court of Justice of the European Union letting employers prevent employees from wearing Hijab at the workplace, Khatibzadeh called the verdict “shameful”, saying that Europeans narrow the concepts of human rights, minority rights and religious rights when it comes to Islam and Muslims.

“The verdict is discriminatory and lets discrimination grow, paving the way for Islamophobia in Europe. Iran expects them to modify the mistake,” he emphasized.

Answering a question about the issue of the prisoner exchange between Iran and the United States, the spokesman said, “The comment we heard from the United States is outrageous. In addition to the JCPOA talks in Vienna, we had parallel but separate talks with the United States indirectly and with the UK on this humanitarian issue. Releasing Iranians who are unjustly and cruelly imprisoned in the United States, some European countries and other countries under false pretenses is Iran’s priority. What the United States is doing is tying a human issue to political issues.”

“All sides went to make preparations, and the part related to US commitments was not done until yesterday. When Iran told the other parties that the seventh round would be held under the new administration, the United States tried to tie this humanitarian issue to the JCPOA talks, and this approach is wrong and makes all paths difficult,” Khatibzadeh noted.

“If the United States fulfills its obligations today, the release of 10 prisoners can be done with the United States and Britain,” he added.

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@Isna_Int