State Department Open to Lifting Sanctions on Iran to Restore Nuclear Deal
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The Biden administration has indicated willingness to lift some sanctions on Iran in order to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“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. I am not in a position here to give you chapter and verse on what those might be,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in comments reported by Reuters.
The Biden administration and Iranian representatives have begun talks in Vienna, Austria, seeking to return the JCPOA.
“We are not optimistic or pessimistic about the outcome of this meeting now, but we are confident that we are on the right track,” Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei told reporters on Wednesday. “Surely the full implementation of this agreement will be finalized within the coming weeks.”
Iran has threatened to ramp up uranium enrichment and halted compliance with the JCPOA’s “additional protocol,” which allowed snap inspections by International Atomic Energy Agency personnel.
The agreement, which sought to limit Iran’s nuclear activities to energy use, was President Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement. President Trump subsequently withdrew from the JCPOA and reimposed economic sanctions on the country.
“This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” Trump said at the time. “It didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will.”
