Iran vows return to 2015 nuclear agreement if US sanctions are lifted

Iran will automatically returns to its nuclear commitments if US President- elect Joe Biden lifts sanctions.

Biden promises return to diplomacy with Iran after four years of relations under Trump’s rule. He had withdrawn from the denuclearization accord and had imposed sweeping sanctions.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Tehran would meet its commitments which “can be done automatically and needs no conditions or even negotiations,”

Zarif described Biden as a “foreign affairs veteran” whom he has known for 30 years. Once in the White House, Biden could “lift all of these (sanctions) with three executive orders,” Zarif argued.

“The next stage that will need negotiating is America’s return… which is not a priority,” he said, adding that “the first priority is America ending its law-breaking”.

President Hassan Rouhani said Trump’s administration was “unruly” and that Biden could bring back the atmosphere which prevailed in 2015 at the time of the nuclear deal negotiated by Barack Obama.

The accord offers Tehran relief from international sanctions in exchange for guarantees, verified by the United Nations, that its nuclear programme has no military aims.

Trump team opposes

Trump, who has not yet accepted defeat, plans on pressurizing Iran and hopes to make it difficult politically and legally for Biden to ease sanctions.

Sources reported on Monday that Trump had last week asked top aides about the possibility of striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Senior officials reportedly “dissuaded the president from moving ahead with a military strike.” They warned him that such an attack could escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks of his presidency.

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