Germany rejects Iran's calls for partial unfreeze of assets to restart nuclear talks

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - Germany on Monday dismissed Iran’s demands for the US to unfreeze some of Tehran's assets in what Iran says would be a sign of goodwill to rejoin the stalled nuclear talks in Vienna.

Asked at a weekly news conference in Berlin whether Germany would agree to such a move, German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger stressed that if Tehran was indeed making new demands to restart the nuclear negotiations, they would be "rejected".

Burger was referring to the statements by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in an interview with Iran's state broadcaster IRIB over the weekend where he urged the US to release $10 billion in an act of goodwill to jumpstart the nuclear talks in the Austrian capital.

The German official made clear that any basis for resuming the nuclear negotiations would be what has been agreed so far during six rounds of nuclear talks in Vienna.

“We call on Iran to resume talks as soon as possible and have communicated this to the Iranian government through various channels," Burger reiterated.

Berlin has repeatedly warned that time is running out for diplomatic efforts to revive the nuclear deal.

That notwithstanding, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said he remained upbeat on "a positive conclusion" of the Iran nuclear accord.

Delegations from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’s (JCPOA) signatories, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China launched efforts in April to bring Tehran and Washington, which abandoned the deal in 2018, back into its fold.

After the June 18 election victory of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, these negotiations in Vienna were suspended.

In the talks, Iran demands that all Western sanctions be lifted, while its interlocutors seek to reinstate controls on its nuclear program.