Tehran is ready to reach a "good deal" with world powers, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told a televised news conference on Monday, blaming the United States for stalling talks to revive their 2015 nuclear pact.
"Even today, we are ready to return to Vienna to reach a good deal if Washington fulfills its commitments," Khatibzadeh said.
The nuclear pact seemed near revival in March, but talks were thrown into disarray partly over whether the U.S. might remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which controls elite armed and intelligence forces that Washington accuses of a global terrorist campaign, from its Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.
In 2018 then-U.S. President Donald Trump reneged on the deal, under which Iran restrained its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions, prompting Iran to begin violating its core nuclear limits about a year later.
Last week, the U.S. said it awaits a constructive response from Iran on reinstating the agreement without "extraneous" issues, a possible reference to Iran's demand its Guards be dropped from a U.S. terrorism list.
The spokesperson also said it would be premature to speak of Iran and Saudi Arabia reopening embassies in each other's capitals after five rounds of talks since last year between the rivals on improving ties.
"It is too early to talk about the reopening of embassies by Tehran and Riyadh," Khatibzadeh said when asked whether the travel of Iranian Haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia could signal a restoration of diplomatic relations.
The first batch of 39,635 Iranian Haj pilgrims authorized to perform their religious duty in Mecca arrived in Saudi Arabia this month.
Predominantly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, which are locked in proxy conflicts across the Middle East, started direct talks last year to try to contain tensions.
In April, the two held the fifth round of their negotiations in Iraq.
Riyadh severed ties with Tehran in 2016 after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Arabia Embassy in the Iranian capital following the execution of a Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia.
