Iran’s Zarif urges Biden to act first in returning US to nuclear deal

Iran’s Zarif urges Biden to act first in returning US to nuclear deal

Iran urged new U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday to "choose a better path" by returning to a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and global powers, but said the opportunity would be lost if Washington insists on further Iranian concessions up front.

Under Biden's predecessor Donald Trump, Washington withdrew from the deal - designed to stop Iran developing a nuclear weapon - and bolstered sanctions in a bid to force Tehran into talks on a broader agreement that also addressed its ballistic missile program and support for proxies around the Middle East.

Biden, who took office on Wednesday, "can begin by removing all sanctions imposed since Trump assumed office and seek to re-enter and abide by the 2015 nuclear deal without altering its painstakingly negotiated terms," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine.

"In turn, Iran would reverse all the remedial measures it has taken in the wake of Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal," he said on Friday, adding that the "initiative squarely rests with Washington"

Since Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, Iran has breached its key limits one after the other, building up its stockpile of low-enriched uranium, refining uranium to