US as starter of Iranian nuclear crisis should lift sanctions

"With the concerted efforts of all parties, the seventh round of negotiations on resuming the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) kicked off in Vienna. Although there was no breakthrough in the negotiations, all parties showed a serious attitude and agreed to return to the JCPOA exactly as it is," said Zhao Lijian on his regular press conference on Monday.

"On the basis of the text reached in the previous six rounds of negotiations, the parties held comprehensive and in-depth discussions on the lifting of sanctions and issues in the nuclear field, and the Iranian side proposed written amendments to the text in these two areas. These interactions help all parties to better understand the position of the new Iranian government," he added.

The Chinese diplomat noted, "Under the current circumstances, all parties should stick to the political direction of dialogue and negotiation, firmly maintain the momentum of negotiations, strive to expand consensus and push forward the negotiation process. It should be pointed out that finger-pointing and pressuring will lead nowhere."

At present, the key is to focus on the pending issues, adopt a flexible and open attitude, show political wisdom, seek practical and feasible solutions, and strive to reach an agreement on resuming compliance with the JCPOA at an early date," he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson also called the US as the one who started the Iranian nuclear crisis, saying, "As the one who started the Iranian nuclear crisis, the US should lift all illegal unilateral sanctions against Iran, China and other third parties, and Iran should resume fulfilling its nuclear commitments on this basis. In this process, all parties concerned should uphold fairness and justice, be rational and exercise restraint, and avoid drastic words and deeds that may disrupt diplomatic efforts."

The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Vienna handed over two documents on the removal of sanctions and on nuclear issues to the other negotiating parties on December 2.

Iran’s chief negotiator deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani said in a recent interview that the two drafts Tehran presented to the P4+1 “cannot be rejected,” urging for the immediate removal of all the United States sanctions.

"What we have presented is the malfunctions and the blunders which were in the text of the [JCPOA] draft and we presented some modifications," Bagheri Kani said in an interview with Al-Jazeera.

Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, on Saturday defended Iran's "reasonable and justified" demands to obtain guarantees that the US would not withdraw from the JCPOA again.

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