Amir Abdollahian made the remarks at a joint press conference with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Tehran.

Pointing to a Saturday night drone raid on a military facality in the Central city of Isfahan, the Iranian diplomat stated that the “cowardly” act was carried out in line with efforts to incite insecurity and instability in the country.

“Such measures will fail to have any impact on our experts’ will to achieve peaceful nuclear achievements,” he asserted.

The foreign minister added the Iranian security bodies are making utmost efforts to ensure “maximum security” in the country.

In an early Sunday statement, Iran’s Defense Ministry announced that the country's air defense units have foiled a drone attack on a defense industrial complex in the Central province of Isfahan.

The ministry said one of its workshop complexes had come under attack from a number of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs), but the complex’s air defenses successfully repelled the attack.

“One of the MAVs was downed by the complex’s air defense fire, while the other two were caught in its defensive traps and exploded,” the statement added.

READ MORE: Iran Air Defense Thwarts Drone Attack on Military Facility

On nuclear negotiations, Amir Abdollahian noted his Qatari counterpart conveyed messages from the parties to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, whose fate has been in limbo ever since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the landmark agreement in 2018.

“Today, we received messages from the JCPOA parties via the Qatari foreign minister,” he said, without providing more details.

The senior diplomat added Iran welcomes Qatar’s efforts to convey messages or initiatives to help the JCPOA parties resolve the remaining issues and have the US sanctions lifted.

In response to a question about continued US economic pressure against Iran, Amir Abdollahian underlined, “Unfortunately, pursuing economic terrorism against independent countries is on the US agenda.”

“Iran has used various methods to neutralize the sanctions and will continue to do so. We will continue to work with our friends in the region to counter such unproductive measures, which are in fact a systematic violation of human rights,” the minister underscored.

The Qatari foreign minister, for his part, confirmed that he conveyed messages to his Iranian counterpart from different JCPOA parties about various issues.

Qatar believes that it is an appropriate time to settle the issues pertaining to the revival of the JCPOA and make the ground for the sides to reach a final agreement, Al Thani said.

He further stated that he also carried messages from the US to Iran, adding that his country would continue efforts to clear up misunderstandings between the parties and their return to their commitments.

Doha seeks to promote regional stability and revival of the JCPOA, which plays an important role in this regard, the Qatari diplomat added.

Iran stresses it has not quit the negotiating table with the world powers, but will not put all its eggs in the negotiation basket and will not wait for the United States to return to its commitments under the 2015 agreement. Iranian officials stress Tehran has maintained its constructive attitude towards a good, strong and lasting agreement on the revival of the accord and arriving at a deal requires the US pragmatic attitude.

Tehran says it will not be able to trust Washington as long as President Joe Biden continues the wrong policy of maximum pressure and sanctions practiced by Donald Trump against Iran. Iranian officials say the Biden administration has yet done nothing but hollow promises to lift sanctions against Tehran. They blast the US addiction to sanctions, and slammed the POTUS for continuing his predecessor's policy on Iran.

Tehran and the five remaining parties to the nuclear deal have held several rounds of negotiations since April 2021 to restore the agreement, which was unilaterally abandoned by Trump in May 2018.

The talks remain stalled since August 2022, as Washington continues to insist on its hard-nosed position of not removing all sanctions that were slapped on Tehran by the previous US administration.

In quitting the agreement, Trump restored sanctions on Iran as part of what he called the “maximum pressure” campaign against the country. Those sanctions are being enforced to this day by the Biden administration, even though it has repeatedly acknowledged that the policy has been a mistake and a failure.

Iranian officials say the ball is in the US' court, and the Biden administration should assure Tehran that it will not repeat Trump's past mistakes.

Diplomats have also criticized Washington for raising excessive demands from Tehran during the nuclear talks, and blocking efforts to reach an agreement on the JCPOA. They emphasized that the US should lift unilateral sanctions, and assure Iran that it will not repeat its past mistakes.

Officials say although some progress has been made, there are still outstanding issues that need to be resolved before a final deal could be attained. They warn that Tehran has its own "Plan B" and it will go into effect if Washington fails to make a political decision to revive the 2015 agreement.