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Iran FM urges EU to help mediate US return to nuclear deal

Iran FM urges EU to help mediate US return to nuclear deal
posted onFebruary 2, 2021
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Iran's foreign minister Mohamad Javad Zarif on Monday asked the European Union to facilitate a return of both Washington and Tehran into a nuclear deal signed in 2015.

"You know clearly there can be a mechanism to basically either synchronize it, or coordinate what can be done," he said during an interview with CNN International.

Zarif has also asked EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to play a role in his position of coordinator of the 2015 agreement.

Iranian authorities have different standpoint on the future of the deal.

Zarif previously said US must end all the sanctions against Tehran before renegotiating the deal.

US President Joe Biden has supported the idea of returning to the accord, from which Donald Trump exited in 2018, but has insisted that Tehran first resume full compliance.

Iran has been gradually violating all its commitments under the deal. Tehran breached its last major commitment last month after it announced a rapid increase in the level of enriched uranium. 

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said Sunday the country no longer needs an agreement with world powers on its nuclear program, semi-official Fars News agency reported.

“Today, we have come to a point that we have really grown needless of the nuclear deal and we have understood that we should prioritize efforts to become needless of sanctions removal rather than staying in need of the removal of embargoes,” Hossein Salami told a gathering of volunteer militia forces in Tehran, Fars said.

The 2015 agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, provided Tehran with sanctions relief in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear activity.