Iran demands removal of sanctions to reach agreement on nuclear power

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told global media in Vienna, Italy that "normalization of foreign trade" was essential if the talks on nuclear power with the US were to reach an agreeable outcome. The USA and Iran are discussing the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, under which Iran was promised economic incentives in exchange for limits on its nuclear program, and is meant to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb.

Khatibzadeh dismissed "speculations" on the possibility of an interim deal between Iran and its western counterparts on the 2015 nuclear agreement as a "psychological operation" aimed at "fishing in troubled waters". The idea of an interim deal was raised by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan who said it would buy time to reach a formal agreement.

US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran in 2018. The Biden administration has so far not made headway either as six rounds of 'indirect' talks with the country have ended unsuccessfully, with neither side agreeing on a unified set of measures to resume the accords.

Two weeks earlier, Iran atomic energy spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that the atomic agency had produced well beyond a 120 kilogram target for 20% enriched uranium set by parliament and 25 kg of 60% enriched uranium. Under the historic 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and global leaders, Iran was not meant to enrich uranium above 3.67 %. Enriched uranium above 90 % can be used for nuclear weapons.

The US has already emphasised that it will take all measures to protect its interests if Iran is not willing to negotiate seriously. Another round of talks with Iran involving China, Russia, France, Germany and the UK will begin on November 29 in order to reassemble the JCPOA. Meanwhile Rafael Grosso head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has been invited to visit Iran to provide impetus to the talks, Khatibzadeh revealed last week.