U.S.-led West's refusal to accept Iran's realities basis of "wrong" policies: Iranian president

TEHRAN, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday slammed the refusal by the United States and some Western countries to accept Iran's realities, which has been the basis of their "strategic mistakes and wrong policies" on Iran and the Middle East over the past years.

Raisi made the remarks in a meeting with foreign ambassadors and heads of foreign missions in Tehran on the occasion of the upcoming 44th anniversary of the victory of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which falls on Feb. 11, according to the website of the Iranian president's office.

He added that any "just observer" can realize the extent to which the U.S. and some Western countries are "stubbornly" sticking to their "hegemonic" positions and refraining from understanding and accepting the realities of Iran as an independent and free country.

Turning to the talks on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, Raisi said that Iran has, since months ago, expressed its readiness to finalize the negotiations and achieving a "good and fair agreement" and has shown its goodwill to this end, despite the Western sides' failure to honor their commitments.

Iran signed the 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 the sanctions on the country. The U.S., however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Iran, prompting the latter to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.

The talks on the JCPOA's revival began in April 2021 in Vienna, Austria. No breakthrough has been achieved after the latest round of talks held in August 2022.