Dubai. October 3. INTERFAX - Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahiyan said that Tehran insists that Washington, as a sign of goodwill and readiness to resume negotiations in Vienna on the atom, return $10 billion of Iran's frozen funds to Tehran.
"They do not want to return $10 billion belonging to the Iranian nation. And in this case, we could say that the Americans have taken into account the interests of the Iranian nation once in the last few decades," the minister said in an interview with Iranian television.
Iran has been unable to obtain tens of billions of dollars of its assets in foreign banks, obtained mainly through oil and gas exports, due to US sanctions against its banking and energy sectors.
Abdollahiyan noted that in September, US officials contacted Iran through intermediaries at the UN to agree on the resumption of the Vienna talks suspended in June on the full restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian atom.
"The Americans tried to contact us through various channels (during the UN General Assembly session) in New York, and I told the intermediaries that if America's intentions are serious, then serious evidence of this is needed," he said, adding, "let them unfreeze at least $10 billion of blocked money."
The minister reiterated that Tehran is finalizing preparations for the Vienna talks and they will resume soon.
From April to June of this year, Iran and a number of world powers held six rounds of talks in Vienna with the aim of restoring the JCPOA. Currently, negotiations are on pause: Iranian officials have stated that Tehran will be ready to continue negotiations after the inauguration of the new Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi in early August and the formation of a new government.