Biden administration's rhetoric on Iran hardly different from Trump's: Rouhani

Tehran [Iran], February 11 (ANI/Sputnik): Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that the Biden administration's policy on Iran was no different from that of former US President Donald Trump's and that Tehran had so far seen no changes in the US 'approach.
"We have seen no goodwill from the new US administration. The rhetoric has changed but there has been no change in practice," Rouhani said at a ceremony to launch several Health Ministry national projects, as cited by Tasnim.
The Iranian leader stressed that if Washington had to keep its new promises, it would need to re-establish the relations with Tehran and remove all the obstacles erected by the previous government. However, to date nothing has changed in practice, Rouhani noted.
Hossein Dehghan, the military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, echoed a similar sentiment in his Thursday interview with The Guardian newspaper.
"The Biden administration talked about diplomacy, multilateralism and interaction in the international arena as well as returning to its international commitments. However, we still see the same policies from the newly elected administration as we did from the Trump team: not lifting the oppressive sanctions against Iranian people, continuing to block Iran oil revenue in foreign banks while we need the money to fight against the coronavirus pandemic, "Dehghan said.
The politician added that the US was not in a position to dictate conditions for Tehran's return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
"The Americans' approach has made our nation not trust them. Therefore, we want to receive guarantees that the Americans will not infringe on the agreement [JCPOA] again. The Americans are not in the position to set up conditions for their return to the negotiating table. They violated the agreement, so in order for them to return to negotiation, they must first lift unilateral and illegal sanctions against Iran and fulfil their commitments, "Dehghan noted.
In 2015, Iran signed the nuclear deal with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and the EU. It required the country to scale back its nuclear program and severely downgrade its uranium reserves in exchange for sanctions relief, including lifting the arms embargo five years after the deal's adoption. In 2018, the US abandoned its conciliatory stance on Iran, withdrawing from the JCPOA and implementing hard-line policies against Tehran.
After Biden won the November presidential election in the US, many started to expect a shift in Washington's attitude toward the agreement. (ANI/Sputnik)