Iranian lawmaker says French, Swiss presidents delivered U.S. messages over nuclear talks

TEHRAN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian lawmaker said that French and Swiss presidents delivered U.S. messages to the Iranian president in New York about the resumption of the nuclear talks and reaching an agreement on the issue, semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.

Vahid Jalalzadeh, chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remark in a televised interview commenting on the meetings between Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his French and Swiss counterparts Emmanuel Macron and Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Accompanying Raisi on the visit, Jalalzadeh said that Macron expressed interest in the continuation of the negotiations on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal, adding "if Iran adopts certain methods, Europe will be able to persuade the United States to revive the nuclear deal."

Jalalzadeh added that Raisi told Macron that Iran has once suffered losses by trusting the United States within the framework of the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and Raisi said "do not ask us to sustain another loss."

The Swiss president also conveyed a message from the United States containing Washington's request for a direct bilateral meeting with Tehran, said Jalalzadeh.

The lawmaker added that Raisi announced decisively that Tehran will not withdraw from its positions on the necessity of resolving the safeguards issues with regard to the country's nuclear program in the talks on the JCPOA's revival.

Raisi had been in New York from Monday to Friday to take part in the UNGA and held talks with other participating states' presidents on the sidelines of the main event.