Iran president says ready for snap return to nuclear deal compliance

Iran is ready to return to full compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal with major powers as soon as the other parties honor their commitments, President Hassan Rouhani says.

The agreement between Iran and major powers has teetered on the brink of collapse since outgoing US President Donald Trump pulled out of it in 2018 and reimposed crippling unilateral sanctions.

US President-elect Joe Biden has expressed readiness to return to the agreement but over the past 18 months Iran has suspended the implementation of some of its own obligations, including key limits to its uranium enrichment program.

“Just as soon as the 5+1 or 4+1 resume all of their commitments, we will resume all of ours,” Rouhani says.

He is referring to the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany with whom Iran reached the nuclear deal.

“I’ve said it before — it doesn’t take time, it’s just a question of willing,” he says in comments to his cabinet aired by state television.

— AFP