In a phone conversation with Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi late on Thursday Tehran time, Lammy said he would raise the matter in discussions with his European and U.S. counterparts soon.
Araqchi told Lammy that Iran was displeased with European governments for imposing or carrying on with sanctions against Iran under false pretexts and expected the three European countries of Britain, France, and Germany — which are involved in ongoing negotiations with Iran — to reconsider their positions.
He said Iran’s position was to refuse to hold direct negotiations with the United States as Washington places Tehran under “maximum pressure” and military threats.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked with Lammy on the phone about a range of subjects, including Iran.
Iran has been holding negotiations with Britain, France, and Germany over its nuclear program.
U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of a multinational deal with Iran during his first term in office in 2018. On March 12, Trump sent a letter to Iran via an emissary from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) requesting that negotiations be opened into a new deal. The U.S. president had on February 4 signed a presidential memorandum to restore “maximum pressure” on the Islamic Republic.
Araqchi told Lammy that the United States was sending mixed signals and that using diplomacy as a means of psychological pressure was unacceptable to the Islamic Republic.
IRNA