DOHA — Iran on Monday signaled "significant
progress" in talks on reviving a stalled accord on its nuclear program but
President
Ebrahim Raisi, on his first visit to a Gulf state, again insisted
that the US must lift its crippling sanctions.
اضافة اعلان
Iran's ultraconservative leader, a personal target of the
US sanctions, spoke out ahead of a summit of natural gas exporting nations in
Qatar. The summit will take place against the backdrop of mounting tensions in
Ukraine and reported advances in resuming a deal limiting Iran's nuclear
program.
The US under former president
Donald Trump withdrew from the
2015 accord in 2018, saying it was not tough enough in curtailing Iran's
weapons ambitions. Tehran has always denied seeking an atomic bomb.
But months of negotiations in Vienna have brought the two
sides closer to a new deal.
Iran's foreign ministry said Monday that "significant
progress" has been made and the number of outstanding obstacles had been
"considerably reduced".
"But the problems that remain are most difficult, the
most difficult and most serious to be resolved," it added.
Talks on reviving the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have been held in the Austrian capital since November, involving
Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly and the US indirectly.
After arriving in Doha and meeting Qatar's emir,
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, a close US ally who has encouraged the two sides to
narrow their differences, Raisi again took aim at the US sanctions that have
ravaged his country's economy.
'Lift the main sanctions'
"The US must show their desire to lift the main
sanctions," he said.
"To reach an accord, it is necessary to guarantee the
interests of the Iranian people, in particular the lifting of sanctions, (give)
a strong guarantee and end dossiers of a political character."
Raisi was named in
US Treasury sanctions in 2019 before he
became president last year. The trip to Qatar is only his fourth abroad since
he took office in August.
Qatar has added the Iran nuclear dispute to its list of
diplomatic hotspots where it has taken a behind-the-scenes mediation role and
the emir called for more dialogue to settle the showdown.
This month, Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al-Thani went on an unannounced visit to Tehran after the emir met
US President
Joe Biden in Washington.
Sanctions have badly hit Iran's oil and gas revenues and the
Tehran government is anxious to get new investment and customers.
The exporters' summit has been dominated by Ukraine tensions
that have raised prices and
European fears that its supplies of Russian gas may
be cut.
The US has asked Qatar to help Europe by preparing emergency
supplies if the
Ukraine crisis worsens.
But producing nations say they will not be able to provide
substantial amounts of replacement gas if sanctions against Russia do affect
Western Europe.
Raisi and the Qatari emir will be joined at Tuesday's summit
by Algeria's
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Trinidad and Tobago's Prime
Minister Keith Rowley. Energy ministers from the other seven forum members, who
include Russia, will also take part.
Ministers from the 11-member group met on Monday to approve
a summit statement that industry analysts predicted would touch on the lack of
spare supplies that could help Europe, where consumers are already paying
record prices for gas.
Qatar and other countries have insisted that massive
investment is needed in gas infrastructure, and that they need the certainty of
long-term contracts to be able to guarantee supplies to Europe.
The EU has long resisted the 10, 15 and 20-year contracts
signed by other major customers for Qatar's gas, which include China, Japan,
and South Korea.
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