190 Iranian lawmakers urge president to get firmer U.S. guarantees in nuke talks

TEHRAN, April 5 (Xinhua) -- More than 190 Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday urged President Ebrahim Raisi to get firmer guarantees from the United States in the Vienna talks on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal.

The lawmakers put forward the demand in a letter addressed to the Iranian president, calling for full observance of the Islamic republic's red lines and safeguarding its people's interests in the talks, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Parliamentarian Ahmad Hossein Fallahi, who collected the signatures for the petition, confirmed that over 190 lawmakers had signed the letter.

In July 2015, Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for easing the U.S.-led sanctions. However, the U.S. government under former President Donald Trump unilaterally quitted the pact in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to reduce its nuclear commitments in retaliation.

Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks on reviving the deal have been held in the Austrian capital of Vienna by Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, namely China, Britain, France, Russia and Germany. The United States has been indirectly involved in the talks, which are reportedly nearing an agreement.

One of the remaining obstacles includes Iran's demand for U.S. guarantees that its succeeding governments would not quit the deal again.