Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, March 7, 2022
Iran seeks ‘creative ways’ to nuke deal after Lavrov’s demand over Russia sanctions

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, December 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
A top Iranian official says his country is seeking “creative ways” to restore its nuclear deal with world powers after Russia’s foreign minister linked sanctions on Moscow over its war on Ukraine to the ongoing negotiations.
The tweet by Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council, offers the first high-level acknowledgment of the demands of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“Vienna participants act & react based on interests and it’s understandable,” Shamkhani writes. “Our interactions … are also solely driven by our people’s interests. Thus, we’re assessing new elements that bear on the negotiations and will accordingly seek creative ways to expedite a solution.”