Iran president leaves for New York
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said the administration of US President Joe Biden is not different from its predecessor as the incumbent followed in the footsteps of Donald Trump.
"The new administration in the United States, they claim that they are different from the Trump administration," Raeisi told CBS News' 60 Minutes program during an interview conducted on Tuesday.
"They have said it in their messages to us. But we haven't witnessed any changes in reality," he added.
The interview comes as Raeisi is set to fly to New York to address the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The president said he has no plans for either meeting or talking with Biden, during his trip.
"I do not think that such a meeting is going to take place," he said
Raeisi made the comment when he was asked, "Are you open to a meeting with President Biden? A face-to-face?" adding, "I don't believe having a meeting or a talk with him will be beneficial."
Under Trump, the United Sates left a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, reinstating the sanctions on Tehran that the deal had lifted.
On his campaign trail, Biden alleged that he intended to return Washington to the deal, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
He has, however, stopped short of taking any such a measure, and has even imposed more sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The Austrian capital of Vienna has been hosting many rounds of negotiations between Iran and the JCPOA's remaining members since last year to examine the potential of the deal's revival and fresh removal of the sanctions.
The talks have, however, failed to bear fruit as a consequence of what Tehran has denounced as Washington's “continued foot-dragging” and “inflexibility”.
Speaking to Qatar's Al Jazeera television network on Thursday, Raeisi reiterated that direct talks with the United States over the nuclear agreement are “of no avail”.
The final decision for the JCPOA’s restoration rested with the United States, he said, adding, Washington has to take trust-building measures toward the Iranian side.
Raeisi also told the Doha-based network that any potential removal of the U.S. sanctions had to be accompanied with relevant "guarantees" that Washington would not reimpose the bans again.
The Iranian president censured a raft of new sanctions that Washington had imposed most recently on Iran, asking, "If Washington is after an agreement, why does it apply new sanctions during the course of the nuclear talks?"
New York trip
AMIN JALALI/IRNA
Raeisi will set off for New York on Monday to deliver a speech at the 77th UNGA session about the Islamic Republic's stance on the “fair international order through economic multilateralism”.
Heading a high-ranking delegation, Raeisi will also hold talks with the heads of states attending the events as well as international figures.
On Sunday, the Iranian president met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei upon return from the Uzbek capital city of Samarkand, where he attended the 22nd annual meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Raeisi presented a report on his Uzbekistan visit and briefed Ayatollah Khamenei on his upcoming UNGA trip.
The Leader expressed his satisfaction with the report and the set of measures taken and wished the president success on the eve of his trip to New York.
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