Iran would have “no problem” pursuing a deal with the US as long as American negotiators and US President Donald Trump can prove sincerity, the head of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, Ebrahim Azizi, said during an interview with CNN on Monday.
When asked about Trump’s assertions that a deal between Tehran and Washington is near, Azizi responded that “we don’t think he’s honest.”
“We have said many times that we accept a negotiation as a continuation of the battlefield,” argued Azizi. “If we could be convinced that there is sincerity from the Americans, especially from the president of the US, and if we could reach confidence that they are people of negotiation and that they also submit to the rules of negotiation, then the Islamic Republic would have no problem with negotiating.”
'Realistic framework' needed for ceasefire
Azizi, who also heads Iran's foreign policy committee, said the current biggest sticking point in the negotiations is the implementation of a realistic framework, which he claimed is being blocked by the US’s freezing of Iranian assets.
The Iranian official claimed that the US had initially agreed to release Iran’s frozen overseas assets during negotiations.
He added that Iran is still unwilling to budge on issues of enriched uranium and nuclear weapons.
When asked whether he thinks there will be a peace agreement, Azizi answered that it depends on US behavior. “If these same behaviors continue,” he said, “then no, we do not have any trust at all, and with this lack of trust, it's not possible for negotiations to continue.
“If those conditions that the Islamic Republic of Iran specifies are fulfilled, and if in practice we see that reflected in the country’s national interests, especially in the economic sphere, financial matters, banking, sanctions, and the issue of Lebanon, which is very, very important to us, we will by no means back down on the issue of the resistance front, its members, and especially Lebanon,” he concluded.
