Iran Repeats Demand For Removal Of US Sanctions Before A Nuclear Deal

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator has reiterated that the upcoming nuclear talks will succeed only if the United States removes all ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions.

Ali Bagheri-Kani who is also Iran’s deputy foreign minister, also said that the Biden Administration should provide a guarantee that Washington will not once again withdraw from an agreement.

Speaking to The Independent days before nuclear talks resume in Vienna, he insisted that former US president Donald Trump’s policy of maximum pressure on Iran had failed, and the Biden Administration should not repeat the same mistake.

Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018 saying the agreement cannot stop Iran from producing nuclear weapons and began imposing sanctions that became known as a ‘maximum pressure’ policy.

Although Tehran claims to have defeated US sanctions, its economy is in a crisis with nearly 50-percent inflation, a 50-percent budget deficit and a falling currency.

World powers say that earlier this year, six rounds of talks in Vienna made a lot of progress, but Iran’s new government formed in August is dominated by hardliners who have put forth new conditions for restoring the JCPOA.