The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohamad Eslami, stressed that the U.S. policy against his country has failed, that is why sanctions should be lifted. | Photo: @Iran_GOV

Vienna, September 20 (RHC)-- The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Mohamad Eslami, insisted Monday at the 65th regular session of the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria that the United States must lift sanctions against his country.

"Now is the time for the United States to rectify its bad policy and remove all sanctions now in a practical, effective and verifiable manner," Eslami said, while questioning U.S. unilateral policies in his first address in front of the IAEA.

The Iranian official underlined the failure of the US policy of applying maximum pressure against Iran and said the U.S. administration should abandon its addiction to imposing unilateral sanctions "and respect international law".

"The president has made it very clear that his government wants results, the aim of the negotiations is to lift the unjust pressures the Iranian nation is under," Eslami added following Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's remarks on the sidelines of the Vienna talks.

The Vienna discussions are aimed at getting the US to rejoin the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed in 2015 and from which the administration of former President Donald Trump pulled out in 2018.

Since April, both Iran and the other signatories of the JCPOA (Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Russia) have been in talks in Vienna to try to save the agreement. The United States is indirectly taking part in the debate.

After the election of the new Iranian president, the talks were paused for three months. The new Raisi government persists in resuming the dialogues as part of its agenda, however, they consider that Western pressure should be left out and that the U.S. should lift sanctions.