The U.S. must remove all sanctions on Iran put in place by the Trump administration before Iran will return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear accord signed under the Obama administration, the country’s supreme leader said.
Multiple news outlets report that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made comments carried by Iranian state TV, claiming that Iran had “fulfilled all its commitments” under the 2015 deal, while adding that any reductions in nuclear enrichment to return to pre-deal levels would be dependent on U.S. action.
“Iran has fulfilled all its obligations under the deal, not the United States and the three European countries,” Khamenei said, according to Reuters. “If they want Iran to return to its commitments, the United States must in practice … lift all sanctions.”
“Then, after verifying whether all sanctions have been lifted correctly, we will return to full compliance … It is the irreversible and final decision and all Iranian officials have consensus over it,” he reportedly continued.
Khamenei’s comments followed remarks from President Biden in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” during which the president responded affirmatively when asked whether Iran would have to decrease its enrichment of uranium before the U.S. would return to the negotiating table. Biden also confirmed that the U.S. would not lift sanctions on Iran in order to spark the resumption of negotiations.
Relations between the U.S. and Iran soured under the Trump administration and deteriorated significantly last year following the death of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, at the hands of U.S. forces in Iraq.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reported last year that Iran’s uranium stockpile is now more than 12 times higher than the levels allowed under the 2015 agreement.