An Iranian lawmaker says the US must lift the existing sanctions against Iran as a positive diplomatic gesture for the normalization of ties with the Islamic Republic.
“If the Americans are honest, they will have to lift the sanctions,” said member of Iran Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Evaz Heidarpour on Tuesday.
“The US must respect the interests of the Iranian nation.... Therefore, as a first step, [US President Barack] Obama should replace the hostile sanctions against Iran with the policy of transparency,” he pointed out.
The Iranian lawmaker pointed to evidence of peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear energy program and called on the West to immediately change its hostile approach towards Tehran.

Following a Thursday meeting between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in New York over Tehran’s nuclear energy program, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington could begin removing bans on Tehran within months if a “transparent process is in place” over the nuclear issue.

On Friday, Iran President Hassan Rouhani and his US counterpart had a landmark phone conversation mainly focusing on Iran’s nuclear energy program. It was the first direct communication between an Iranian and a US president since the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution more than three decades ago.

The United States, Israel and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with the US and the European Union using the unsubstantiated claim as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions against Tehran.

The bans come on top of four rounds of US-instigated UN Security Council sanctions against Iran under the same pretext.

Iran has categorically rejected the allegation, stressing that as a committed member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

By Press TV

 

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