SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iran will reverse its nuclear steps and will return to full compliance with the deal with six powers only after removal of U.S. sanctions and its verification by Tehran, according to a foreign ministry spokesman.
“We want the lifting of U.S. sanctions, their verification by Tehran, and then the resumption of Iran’s compliance,” state media cited Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying, according to Reuters.
“It is Washington, not Tehran, that should make a decision,” he added.
Iran agreed in 2015 to curbs on its uranium enrichment programme, a possible pathway to nuclear weapons, in return for the lifting of international sanctions. Trump abandoned the deal three years later, calling it flawed to Iran’s advantage, and reimposed harsh sanctions that hammered Iran’s economy.
Tehran responded by violating some enrichment limits, while continuing to insist that it has no nuclear arms ambitions.
On Wednesday, Iran’s outgoing president Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi, said the U.S. had agreed to remove all sanctions on Iran’s oil and shipping.
“An agreement has been reached to remove all insurance, oil and shipping sanctions that were imposed by [former U.S. President Donald] Trump,” Vaezi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
“About 1,040 Trump-era sanctions will be lifted under the agreement. It was also agreed to lift some sanctions on individuals and members of the supreme leader’s inner circle,” he added.
Talks between Iran and six world powers on the nuclear deal is set to resume on Saturday after they adjourned the talks for consultations in their capitals.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday a nuclear deal with Tehran is “within reach”.
Like other Western and Iranian negotiators who have said the talks remain a long way from conclusion, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Wednesday that Tehran and the powers still had to overcome significant hurdles.
“We are making progress but there are still some nuts to crack,” Maas told a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
French Junior Foreign Minister Franck Riester told lawmakers that time was running out to reach a deal and he opened the door to the idea that a deal might not be reached quickly.
“Difficult decisions will need to be made in the coming days or weeks if these negotiations were not to move forward.”
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday there was still “a fair distance to travel”, including on sanctions and on the nuclear commitments that Iran has to make to salvage the tattered deal.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration aims to restore the deal, but the sides disagree on which steps need to be taken and when to defuse mutual suspicions and ensure full compliance.
