Iran’s top leader issued a “final” ultimatum to the United States on Sunday, saying the only way for Washington to return to the 2015 nuclear deal signed by world powers is to lift all sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
“Iran has fulfilled all its obligations under the agreement, not the United States and the three European countries … If they want Iran to return to its commitments, the United States must, in practice … lift all sanctions” , Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to Reuters, who cited Iranian state TV.
“So after verifying that all sanctions have been lifted correctly, we will return to full compliance … It is an irreversible and final decision and all Iranian authorities have a consensus on this,” he continued.
Former President Donald Trump imposed tough sanctions on Tehran after he withdrew from the deal in May 2018.
The Obama administration’s brokered deal with Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union has reduced sanctions against Iran in exchange for cutting the country in its enriched uranium stock needed to power nuclear weapons.
But since the withdrawal from the US, Iran has breached the limits of the agreement and started to increase its stockpile using advanced centrifuges for enrichment.
President Biden signaled that he would be willing to return to the nuclear deal if Iran strictly complies with the terms of the pact, and a group of House Democrats signed a letter in December urging him to do so.
The world powers that still signed the agreement also asked Biden to return to the pact.