Pezeshkian:
Tehran not opposed to US investment
‘Iran open to dialogue based on dignity’
President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday Tehran has no objection to American investors doing business in Iran as the two countries are set to hold nuclear negotiations in Oman in the coming days.
“The Leader has no objection to the presence of American investors in the country,” Pezeshkian said during a commemoration ceremony of National Nuclear Technology Day.
“We oppose their flawed policies, such as conspiracies and attempts at regime change.”
In an article published by the Washington Post on Tuesday, the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also said Iran is not opposed to Americans’ investment in Iran.
“There is a serious misconception that needs to be cleared up. Many in Washington portray Iran as a closed country from an economic point of view. The truth is that we are open to welcoming businesses from around the world. It is the US administrations and congressional impediments, not Iran, that have kept American enterprises away from the trillion-dollar opportunity that access to our economy represents,” Araghchi said.
“Indeed, when the United States agreed to license the sale of passenger aircraft as a part of the JCPOA (2015 nuclear agreement), Iran immediately negotiated a contract with Boeing to buy 80 planes. To say that the scope for trade and investment in Iran is unparalleled is an understatement,” Iran’s top diplomat added.
Iran seeking peace
Iran’s president also said the Islamic Republic seeks peace and is open to dialogue.
“We seek peace and security, and we are open to dialogue, but based on dignity and pride. We will not back down from our achievements, nor will we compromise on them, and we will never allow anyone to prevent us from thinking or to prevent us from being innovative and creative,” he said.
Pezeshkian also reiterated that Tehran does not seek nuclear bombs.
The president said the West claims that Iran wants to produce nuclear bombs. They have verified it a hundred times, and they can verify it a thousand times more.
Tehran needs nuclear energy
But he underlined that they should know that, “We need nuclear science and nuclear energy in all fields.”
The president said Iran does not seek war but remains strong against any possible aggression.
High-ranking delegations from Iran and the US are scheduled to meet in the Omani capital of Muscat on Saturday to commence indirect negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program and removal of anti-Iran sanctions.
It comes after Tehran and Washington expressed their interest to begin new negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program after President Donald Trump took office in the US in January.
The talks follow a letter sent by Trump on March 7, calling for Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to resume nuclear negotiations and warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.
Tehran responded weeks later, saying it was open to indirect negotiations and dismissed the possibility of direct talks as long as the United States maintains its “maximum pressure” policy reinstated after Trump returned to White House for his second term in January.
During his first term, Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions.
Tehran adhered to the 2015 deal for a year after Washington withdrew from it, but later began rolling back its own commitments.