US nuclear demand from Iran 'will never happen': Zarif

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Iran will not accept the US demand that it resume full nuclear compliance before Washington lifts sanctions on Tehran.

According to Press TV, the demand “is not logical and will never happen”, he said at a joint news conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu Friday.

“The United States unilaterally withdrew from this comprehensive course of action,” Zarif told journalists, speaking through an interpreter. “It is the duty of the United States to return to this agreement and to fulfill its obligations.

“The moment the United States fulfills its commitments, we would be prepared to fulfill ours,” he added.

Zarif said the US withdrawal from the nuclear pact, officially referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is a blatant example of Washington’s “law-breaking”.

“Unfortunately, the US is used to imposing sanctions,” Zarif added, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Zarif denounced a US decision last month to slap sanctions on Turkey over the country’s purchase of the S-400 Russian air defense system.

“We condemn the US CAATSA sanctions imposed on Turkey, these sanctions have no significance,” he emphasized.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Zarif hailed relations with Turkey, noting that ties will deepen when the US adopts more reasonable attitudes.

“Iran-Turkey relations are very important for us and filled with mutual benefits,” he remarked.

For his part, Cavusoglu said Turkey has always supported the nuclear deal, expressing the hope that the Biden administration would return to the JCPOA and lift sanctions on “brotherly Iran”.

Zarif was in Turkey as part of a tour of countries of the south Caucasus aimed at building support for the creation of a regional platform that would include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia and Turkey, and encourage cooperation between the countries.

The initiative was proposed following a cease-fire agreement in November that halted weeks of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the separatist territory of Karabakh.

“The existing cease-fire must be rendered more lasting and trade and economic cooperation must be invigorated,” Zarif said.

Zarif was in Turkey as part of a tour of countries of the south Caucasus aimed at building support for the creation of a regional platform that would include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia and Turkey, and encourage cooperation between the countries.

SS