the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., may 27, 2022. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable angus s. king, jr., a senator from the state of maine, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m., on tuesday, may 31, 2022. adjourn: >> the senate is expected to regum resume legislative sessions. only brief sessions held until then. and back to the conversation with the iranian foreign

minister. >> and from the beginning of the new rounds of talks in order to revive jcp0a and bring them back to their parties. and they've put on the table different initiatives recently and put on the negotiating table a new initiative, but we think that mr. biden is facing some kind of inaction. i hope that the american side will act and behave realistically. the subject is important-- the most important thing is that in the return of all the parties to the jcpoa, we need to benefit from the economic gains of the jcpoa, trump's maximum pressure policy should be removed. this is something that mr. biden said from the very beginning of his presidential campaign, you cannot return to jcpoa, but at the same time

iran will be deprived of its economic gains. it cannot return to jcp0. a, but the elements and the factor of trump's maximum pressure policy are there. mr. biden mass to choose one of these. he has to decide. we are very serious about reaching a strong and good and lasting deal and we're committed to it. our nuclear program is totally peaceful. this is the american side that has to make the decision. we are keeping the video of diplomacy open and we hope that if the americans have realistic approach, we will get to the point where we can make the deal. but i have to say that with some regret that the national interests of the united states have been taken hostage by

design and so many reasons to believe so. >> and let me talk about what is reported to be the central issue of the obstacle now. the designation of iroc as a terrorist and it seems like this outside of nuclear deal. in other words, there are things that iran or the revolutionary guard have done which are triggered this designation rightly or wrongly, nothing to do with the iran nuclear deal. why allow the issue of the revolutionary guard with whether you proceed with the deal? >> if -- as a person that's responsible for our diplomacy team and negotiating team,

honestly, what is the hurdle, what has caused a pause should i say or cessation in the talks is that economic guarantees, we have not come to the point where we can trust the american side, we have not been convinced yet that if on the ground and inaction, we have not convince that had we have not seen a behavior that is different from trump's approach. you see we should not diminish things or reduce them to just one subject. fto thing is just one level of our talks between us and the americans indirectly. but before that, there are remaining issues which are also important. we say that the return to jcpoa is that we should--

the economic, national economic and trade activities of iran should become normal and natural in the international sphere. this is important to us. we should be able to do so and we've said this to the american side unfortunately this fto thing, israeli side made it public, magnified it, and now this issue is being portrayed as the main hurdle. this is why i'm telling you clearly that the main obstacle is that we are not convinced that the people of iran and we are going to benefit fully from the economic gains of jcpoa. >> okay, this is an important point. you're saying that if you had confidence that the u.s. would, in fact, wave, remove the sanctions that were put in place by trump and as part of

his pulling out of the iran deal, that would -- that is the core issue. you would not let the designation of the revolutionary guard as a foreign terrorist organization become an obstacle. >> you see, since last september when i was in new york and also recently in the munich security conference and also on the path of the indirect talks between my colleague, dr. bagary and plaintif enrique and mr. isaac, we're facing repeatedly this request from the united states, let's see-- let's sit down and talk directly and set some remaining issues, including fto. >> i said mr. biden, you know,

he's giving those messages. if he really has good intentions and if his intentions r jean genuine, he should show that on the ground. and take a look at jcpoa, we're asking this big nuclear achievements, we have to bring them to a halt. what is the united states going to do ultimately? they have imposed sanctions on us and frozen their assets. they're not going to pay anything from us from their own pockets, they're just going to lease our own assets. things that are rightfully ours, they're going to return them to us, they are not going to pay anything from their own pockets. at the best scenario, this is going to happen. so, we told them if you're talking about direct talks, then you have to prove to us that you're different from of

president trump. there is a difference between biden and trump. you have to show it to us in practice, what we're feeling that the maximum pressure policy of the trump is still being repeated by biden. there are still important issues remaining beau, but we're-- but we want to make it simple. you have good intentions, you claim you have good intentions, we're ready, give us economic guarantees and remove the elements of the maximum pressure policy of trump. if you remove these, these are the most important issues to us that we have to focus on. but in the hue and cry of the media, there are things that are raised which are not right. >> let me ask you, when you look at the relations between the united states and iran, is there -- is there in your view

a path to a real better relations, you know, you're still representing a country that chants every year death to america and slogans plastered on the wall painted by the government and sponsored by the government, that say death to america. do you want to have better relations with america. >> usually when it new administration comes into power whether iran or the u.s., the first thing that is raised is how the relationship between washington is going to be. we say this all the time that we have a specific and clear principle in our foreign policy. secondly, and the issue of the relationship between iran and the u.s., the criterion is the behavior of the american side.

and over the last 40 years, a lot of indicators have been given to us by the united states that make us distrust them. you see, right now we are involved in intensive vienna talks, but they're imposing fresh sanctions against iran by mr. biden's team, which is a signature against some real entities of iran or some organizations in iran. maybe for you or for the viewers or the audience here it might be interesting to know that the americans have been so extreme in sanctions that sometimes that sometimes a person's name has been repeated three times. this is why the person passed away 10 years ago, he doesn't exist anymore, this is like a mania, sanction mania that the

u.s. is facing. in order for a relationship between to return-- normalcy, we'll base it on the behavior of the u.s., and it's important for dialog to have at least some semblance of trust between the two sides. >> if you return to the deal and you know this question is being asked in the context of russian oil, potentially being more difficult to get, if you would return to the deal, how much oil could iran pump out a day? >> first of all, you know, that islamic republic of iran has a lot of diverse potentialities in the field of energy, including petrol chemicals, oil and gas and also geopolitically

and economically in the area, east to the with he is-- west to the east, north to the south, we're enjoying good infrastructure and the capacities, i think the capacities of iran, officially in the post covid era can come to the serious attention of the whole world. less than three months ago we had the-- we had doha summits and a kind of gas opec, and my president set forth an initiative there. he said that the opportunity of gas should be utilized in order to mend the economic shape of the world in an appropriate way and amongst all the producers and exporters and the consumers of gas in order to revive the global economy we set forth and

proposed very good ideas in that event. but the islamic republic of iran, when it comes to trade and economy, we have to get back to our natural status and standing and naturally we don't want to replace others or compete with others, we just want to use this capacity to help the global economy, both in energy and transit. >> let me ask you about your relations with the other big country in the middle east with which you've had tense relations, saudi arabia, the saudi foreign minister says that there is a new opening is possible or words to that effect. do you believe saudi-iranian relations are moving in a strikingly positive direction? >> some days ago i was in the

united arab emirates, mr. mohammad ben zi and a lot of thing can change, but geography cannot change things we have in common cannot change. saudi and iran are two important countries in the region, two influential countries in the region. we didn't totally sever our diplomatic ties in a retaliatory move. it was the start of the new rule of-- that made a decision based on, it was a kind of emotional one and severed ties with iran not based on logic, but we have always remained-- we have always kept the doors

open and if saudi arabia is interested. that to bring it to normalcy, we will welcome it. >> have they been more positive in recent months? >> i think in recent talks, especially in the last round, that we held, we made good progress. we also-- we even agreed that in the near future that at the level of some officials at the foreign ministers or even the foreign ministers, we can have some meetings in a third country or in a place that's an agreed upon mutually. the progress is minimal, but good. i think so far, made good progress. i think that if, if the