Iran has accused the United States of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for asking that the country returns to the negotiation table to discuss the 2015 nuclear deal.

“It is not Iran that pulled out of the Vienna agreement, but the U.S. The Americans seem to have forgotten this and are apparently suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in this regard,’’ Iran foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

The Iran foreign ministry said instead of threatening Tehran, the U.S. should first return to the nuclear deal itself and lift crippling economic sanctions against it.

At the G20 summit in Rome over the weekend, the U.S. along with France, Britain and Germany had attempted to increase pressure and force Iran back to the table, saying it was the only way to avert a dangerous escalation of the crisis.

Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, told local media on Monday that there was no need for so much talk, demanding U.S. President Joe Biden simply issue an executive order that returns the world power to the original deal.

The Vienna deal from 2015 was designed to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb in exchange for sanctions relief.

The accord was left in tatters when former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

Tehran has been steadily breaching its terms since, and negotiations to revive the deal in April, stalled after hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi became Iran’s new president.

Iran has said a new round of talks could begin this month.

(dpa/NAN)