BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 13. Iran will not beg for negotiations on any issue, the country's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said at today's press conference held in Tehran, Trend reports.
Baghaei explained that any discussion on any matter is a bilateral process. He emphasized that Iran's position on nuclear dialogue remains unchanged and that the country has always pursued negotiations and dialogue to resolve any baseless doubts. He also affirmed that Iran has never walked away from the negotiation table.
"Discussions between Iran and European countries on various issues will take place in Geneva today and tomorrow. As for the United States, Baghaei stated that decisions will be based on its role in the process," he said.
To note, on January 16, 2016, the JCPOA came into force between Iran and the P5+1 group (US, Russia, China, the UK, France, and Germany) regarding Iran’s nuclear program. However, on May 8, 2018, the US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the UK, France, the US, and Germany) and imposed new sanctions on Iran starting from November 2018.
By the end of 2020, the Iranian parliament decided to pursue a strategic plan in the nuclear sector to counter the sanctions, leading to a suspension of additional steps and the Additional Protocol as per the nuclear agreement.
Consequently, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) faced a reduction in monitoring capabilities by 20–30 percent.
Iran has officially affirmed that its strategy is not to pursue the development of an atomic bomb and that it does not support the production of weapons of mass destruction.