Iran’s Khamenei: US must lift all sanctions before Tehran rejoins nuclear deal

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the United States must lift all sanctions imposed on his country before Tehran rejoins the 2015 nuclear deal signed with the world powers, local media reported.

“If they want Iran to return to its commitments, the US must lift all sanctions in practice, then we will do verification and see if the sanctions were lifted correctly, then we will return to our commitments,” IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei as saying.

“If we want to speak logically, the United States and the three European countries [ Britain, France, and Germany] have abandoned all their obligations under the nuclear deal and have no right to set conditions for the return … The party that has the right to set the conditions is Iran because it has acted according to all its obligations,” he added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has recently called on Iran to return to its obligations under the nuclear agreement before Washington rejoins it.

In 2018, Washington unilaterally withdrew from the pact and imposed “unprecedented” sanctions on the Islamic Republic to which Tehran responded by reducing its obligations under the deal.

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