US President Joe Biden announced that the US will not lift sanctions from Iran as a part ofthe push to restore the deal and get the country back to the negotiating table, according to an interview he gave with CBS News. Instead, Biden claimed that the Iranian side needs to stop enriching uranium first and return to the nuclear deal. After this, Washington will consider its options. The move came following a statement by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who said that Iran’s “final and irreversible” decision was to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal only if Washington removes sanctions. Earlier, Iran clearly stated that the return to the nuclear deal is the obligation of the US as Iran was the only side that followed its rules and withdrew from it only after its collapse due to the US actions. Furthermore, it should be noted that there are no guarantees that the US will really lift any sanctions anytime soon if Iran unilaterally returns to following the rules of the collapsed treaty. Therefore, the de-escalation of the situation in the US-Iranian conditions seem to be unlikely if behind the scene negotiations do not result in some breakthrough. Source URL |
