Outgoing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the main issues have been settled in the Vienna talks on the renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal and that he expects the sanctions on Iran to be lifted right away, Tasnim News reported.
Meanwhile, IRNA reported on Wednesday that an attempted act of sabotage on a facility of the department of Iran Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI) in Karaj, a suburb of Tehran, has been foiled with no casualties or damage to property.
Rouhani highlighted his administration’s success in bringing the US to the negotiation table in Vienna, and resolving the major disputes between the two countries, and suggested that if Iran’s top negotiator in Vienna, Abbas Araqchi, is given the necessary authority, the sanctions against Iran’s oil trade could be lifted “today.”
Rouhani, who will soon turn over the reins of government to his successor, President-elect Ebrahim Raeisi, also claimed that Washington agreed to remove Iranian officials from the US blacklist.
Rouhani said that Iran’s non-oil exports in the first quarter of the current Iranian year have increased by 69 percent compared to the corresponding period last year, and a positive balance of trade has been recorded in these 3 months.
He noted that the next administration will have a much easier job in running the country since his administration has handled the situation under an unprecedented economic war and while facing the problems in the import of medicine and foodstuff.
Raeisi on Monday slammed the US and the European powers for failing to honor their commitments under the nuclear deal. “Americans should have lifted all sanctions under the JCPOA, but failed to do so,” the incoming president complained, adding, “I advise the Americans to return to their commitments, and Europe should not come under pressure from the US and should fulfill its commitments.”
The state news agency reported that the attempted sabotage that took place early on Wednesday failed “thanks to the tight security measures predicted for AEOI premises.”
The issue is now under investigation to identify its perpetrators, IRNA said, adding that “such acts of sabotage aiming to disrupt Iranian nuclear activities have not been able to disturb continuation of Iran nuclear programs.”
We’ll see.