On Friday, the Biden administration re-lifted some sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program, as talks continued between world powers and Iran in an effort to salvage the faltering agreement.
Hussein Amir Abdollahian told reporters that “lifting some sanctions in a real and objective way can be interpreted as a gesture of goodwill that the Americans are talking about,” but added that this step was “not enough.”
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has signed several sanctions waivers related to Iran’s civilian nuclear activities, reversing the Trump administration’s decision to rescind them.
This step comes at a time when the US negotiators are returning to Vienna to attend a session that could succeed or fail.
The waivers are ultimately intended to bring Iran back into the 2015 agreement it violated after former President Donald Trump announced his withdrawal from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions.
In the short term, foreign countries and companies operating in Iran’s civilian nuclear sector will be exempted from US sanctions, which the Trump administration rescinded in May 2020.
Iran has gradually distanced itself from the terms of the nuclear deal with world powers after the United States withdrew from it.
Iran has demanded that the United States lift all sanctions it promised under the deal before returning to compliance with the deal.
“Good faith, in our view, means something tangible happening on the ground,” Amir Abdollahian said.
On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzad described the easing of US sanctions as insufficient, saying that Tehran expects to lift the sanctions stipulated in the nuclear deal.
