SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States is prepared to remove sanctions on Iran to resume compliance with the Iran nuclear deal, including those that are inconsistent with the 2015 pact, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal, which lifted economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbs to its nuclear program. He reimposed U.S. sanctions, prompting Iran in turn to violate the accord’s atomic limits.
“We are prepared to take the steps necessary to return to compliance with the JCPOA, including by lifting sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA,” U.S. State Department Ned Price told reporters, according to Reuters.
“I am not in a position here to give you chapter and verse on what those might be,” he added.
He was referring to the pact formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Diplomats from major powers met separately on Wednesday with Iran and the United States to discuss how to bring both back into compliance with the nuclear deal.
Neither the United States nor Iran expects fast breakthroughs in the talks that began in Vienna on Tuesday, with European and other diplomats acting as intermediaries because Tehran rejects face-to-face talks for now.
The deal’s remaining parties – Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia – agreed on Tuesday to form two expert-level groups whose job is to marry lists of sanctions that the United States could lift with nuclear obligations Iran should meet.
Diplomats said the working groups, which are chaired by the European Union and exclude the United States, met on Wednesday and suggested they would know in a matter of weeks whether they might bear fruit before Iran’s June 18 presidential elections.
Reuters cited U.S. officials as saying they had been briefed on the meetings.
“The team on the ground in Vienna has had consultations with our European allies as well as with our Russian and Chinese partners. They in turn have met with the Iranian delegation,” Price said.
The talks would be hard because of the indirect format, the history of U.S.-Iran mistrust and the complexity of the issues, he added.
