Iran foreign minister urges incoming leader to abide by the nuclear deal

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif has on Monday urged president-elect Ebrahim Raisi and his government to honour the 2015 Vienna nuclear agreement by the present government.

He said that honoring the agreement will lead to an enormous upswing in the country’s new political era which future generations would also benefit from.

Iran’s chief diplomat said when it comes to the nuclear deal, the new government should focus on long-term national interests and not on ideology.

The 60-year-old president-elect is to take over from the current president Hassan Rowhani on Aug.5.

The arch-conservative cleric won the presidential election in June with the backing of the country’s hardliners.

Raisi had repeatedly criticized the nuclear agreement in recent years and will not continue the moderate nuclear policy.

But during the election campaign, Raisi also promised a quick end to the economic crisis and that is only achievable if U.S. sanctions are lifted within the framework of the nuclear deal.

The negotiations on saving the 2015 nuclear agreement were interrupted after Raisi’s election victory.

They are now to be resumed from Aug. with Raisi’s new nuclear team.

The nuclear dispute and the U.S. sanctions have plunged oil-rich Iran into an acute economic crisis.

Because of the sanctions, the Islamic Republic could not import enough coronavirus vaccines.

So far less than eight percent of the more than 83 million Iranians have received a jab.