Iran said Wednesday it would “automatically” return to its nuclear commitments if US President-elect Joe Biden lifts sanctions, as the outgoing administration doubled down with more pressure.
Biden has promised a return to diplomacy with Iran after four hawkish years under Donald Trump, who withdrew from a denuclearisation accord and slapped sweeping sanctions.
Tehran again meeting its commitments “can be done automatically and needs no conditions or even negotiations,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in comments published in the state-run Iran daily.
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.
If Biden‘s administration does so, Iran‘s return to nuclear commitments will be “quick”, the minister added.
Washington’s return to the deal, however, could wait, Zarif added.
“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 meanwhile called the Trump administration “unruly”, and said a Biden administration could “bring back the atmosphere” that prevailed in 2015 at the time of the nuclear deal, negotiated by Barack Obama‘s administration in which Biden was vice president.
The accord offered Tehran relief from international sanctions in exchange for guarantees, verified by the United Nations, that its nuclear programme has no military aims.
Trump, who has not accepted defeat in the November 3 election, is moving to keep ramping up pressure on Iran, hoping to make it more difficult politically and legally for Biden to ease sanctions.
Source : Agencies
