Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said  that the country is ready for negotiations “based on honour and dignity” to address concerns about its nuclear program and lift sanctions. He made the remarks at a weekly press conference in Tehran, in reply to a question about the likelihood of negotiations between Iran and the United States.

Baghaei said Iran always believes in dialogue, stressing that Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi had explicitly declared the country’s latest position that “we are ready for dignity and honor-based negotiations on lifting sanctions and removing concerns about the nature of Iran’s nuclear programme.”

Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of sanctions. The United States, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to scale back its commitments under the deal.

The talks to revive the JCPOA began in April 2021 in Vienna, Austria. Despite several rounds of talks, no significant breakthrough has been achieved.