TEHRAN, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Iran's position on the Iran nuclear deal and the removal of sanctions will not change with the shift of government, the Iranian spokesman for the foreign ministry said Tuesday.
"The government of (President-elect Ebrahim) Raisi will also be committed to it (potential agreement) ... because adherence to the commitments and promises is always a principle for the Islamic republic," Saeed Khatibzadeh said during his weekly press briefing.
Progress has been made in the nuclear talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna and it is acknowledged by all parties to the negotiation, Khatibzadeh added.
However, there are still important issues that largely need to be decided by other parties, especially the United States, as the finalization of the agreement on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, officially referred to as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), "depends on the political will and tough decisions of other parties involved," he noted.
Meanwhile, "we do not set any deadline for reaching an agreement which could guarantee the interests of the Iranian people ... We are not in a hurry to reach an agreement, but we will not allow the negotiations to erode," Khatibzadeh warned.
Under the deal reached in 2015, Tehran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions.
However, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments in May 2019, one year after the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.
The JCPOA Joint Commission, attended by the U.S. delegation indirectly, began to meet offline on April 6 in Vienna to continue previous discussions over a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the JCPOA.
After six rounds of talks, the parties recently said serious differences remain between Iran and the United States for restoration of the deal.
