Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh has rejected on Saturday statements by the European troika claiming that the Vienna talks were suspended at Tehran's request.

In this regard, Khatibzadeh clarified, "Despite the Western side's claim about Iran’s request for a pause in the [Vienna] talks, these countries and other members of the P4+1 [group of countries] know very well that this time schedule is [the result of] a collective consensus which has been made by taking into account the European parties' Christmas and New Year holidays.”

He added that it was "not the first time that the Western parties tried to distort the truth and spread misinformation to the public."

Khatibzadeh then noted that the European troika needs to exert efforts to contribute to the progress of the talks, instead of insisting on their “threadbare and useless blame game.”

As the seventh round of discussions in Vienna concluded on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein AmirAbdollahian criticized "the lack of initiative on the part of the Western parties", expressing his hope that these parties act based on logic and participate in the negotiations in good faith and initiative.

Also, an Iranian source told the Iranian news agency IRNA on Friday that several European countries - namely the United Kingdom, France, and Germany - are trying to obstruct the Vienna talks ahead of the Joint Commission meeting.

The 7th round of the Vienna talks resumed on December 9 in the Austrian capital between Iran and major powers, with Iran determined to reach "a good agreement."