Iran to Macron: Nuclear deal non-negotiable, parties to deal ‘unchangeable’

The Iran nuclear deal is non-negotiable and the parties to the deal are “unchangeable,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Saturday.

His remarks came in response to French President Emmanuel Macron, who on Friday said any new talks with Tehran should include regional allies, including Saudi Arabia.

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“Dialogue with Iran will be rigorous, and they will need to include our allies in the region for a nuclear deal, and this includes Saudi Arabia,” Macron told Al Arabiya while speaking to reporters in Paris.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have said that they should be involved in any new talks with Iran which they say should also address the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program and its support for proxies in the region.

The nuclear deal “is in no way negotiable and the parties to the deal are clear and unchangeable,” the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Khatibzadeh as saying.

He called on Macron to “exercise restraint and refrain from hasty and ill-considered positions.”

To revive the nuclear deal, the US must rejoin the deal and lift all the sanctions that were imposed on Tehran under former US President Donald Trump, Khatibzadeh added.

Trump pulled Washington out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign.

US President Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the deal if Iran returns to complying with it. Tehran has said it will only take action after the US rejoins the deal.

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