Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh

Tehran, May 12 (RHC)-- Tehran says the prolonged talks in Vienna on reviving the 2015 Iran deal can be concluded successfully if the United States honors "the Iranian nation’s rights."

Speaking at a weekly news conference in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Iranian delegation would return to the Austrian capital as soon as the U.S. makes a political decision on whether it is willing to honor the agreement.

“If the U.S. makes its decision today and returns what it has taken from the Iranian nation’s rights and [stolen from their] pockets and acknowledges and respects the fact that the Iranian nation’s rights have been denied, we can return to Vienna the day after [Enrique] Mora’s [visit] and sign the agreement,” Khatibzadeh said.

He was making a reference to an upcoming trip to Tehran by the European Union’s deputy foreign policy chief for further consultations with top Iranian officials over the fate of the deal.

Several rounds of negotiations have been held in the Austrian capital since April 2021 to bring the U.S. back into the Iran deal, with the EU leading the talks as the coordinator.

The United States left the accord, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in 2018 and launched a maximum pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic, despite the latter’s full adherence to its commitments under the deal.

Asked whether European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was correct to use the word “impasse” to describe the state of the talks, Khatibzadeh refused to use the same word and reiterated that an agreement can be “easily” reached once the US makes a decision.

The U.S., he went on, is not expected to present a gift to Iran or do anything beyond its commitments, but it must restore the rights of the Iranian people.