Iran links talks with US to lifting of sanctions

The Iranian president said on Monday that his country was open to talks if the U.S. returned to the previous nuclear deal.

Hassan Rouhani who spoke on state national TV said that the negotiations with U.S. would be meaningless while the sanctions are still imposed on Iran.

“It is meaningless to invite for new talks while sanctions are still there,” the president said.

"We are always ready to negotiate," Rouhani said. "But they need to return to [the Iran nuclear deal]. And they need to be honest. You can’t negotiate while putting sanctions on Iran [...]."

“The principle of negotiations is loyalty, and how can we negotiate with a county who left the table imposing sanctions?” he said.

Referring to Iran’s relations with the EU, Rouhani voiced his expectations for more tangible actions from Europe.

“Our partners in Europe and other region have been doing their best, but we are expecting more concrete actions from them,” the president said.

Earlier on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington will enforce sanctions against Iran.

In May, Trump withdrew the U.S. from a nuclear deal, which was signed in 2015 between Iran and the P5 1 group of nations (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany).

The nuclear deal places restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was ready to hold talks with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani without preconditions.