Iran has officially dropped a key "red line" demand that had been a major sticking point in efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a senior administration official told CNN on Friday.
The official said that, in its Monday response to a draft nuclear deal agreement proposed by the European Union, Iran did not demand that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps be removed from the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
"The current version of the text, and what they are demanding, drops it," the official told CNN, noting that the US had repeatedly and consistently rejected the demand. "So if we are closer to a deal, that's why."
The Iranians also dropped demands related to delisting several companies tied to the IRGC, the official said.
The official added that "the President has been firm and consistent that he will not lift the terrorism designation of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps."
Britain, China, France, Germany, Iran and Russia, as well as the United States indirectly, resumed talks on the nuclear accord last week.
