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Washington (AFP)
Iran’s foreign minister on Monday called on the European Union to coordinate a synchronized return of Washington and Tehran to a nuclear deal, following a diplomatic showdown over who will act first.
US President Joe Biden has voiced support for returning to the deal, from which Donald Trump withdrew, but has insisted that Tehran first resume full compliance by reversing the steps it took to protest the broad sanctions imposed. by its predecessor.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who has previously demanded an end to sanctions before Iran acts, offered a way forward during an interview on CNN International.
“You clearly know that there may be a mechanism to synchronize it or coordinate what can be done,” Christiane Amanpour told interviewer.
Zarif said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell should play a role in his role as coordinator of the 2015 deal, which also included Britain, France and Germany, as well as Russia and China.
Borrell can “do a kind of choreography of the actions that the United States should take and the actions that Iran should take,” Zarif said.
“The United States needs to comply again and Iran will be ready to respond immediately. Timing is not the problem.”
Trump abandoned the deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama, promising instead to strangle Iran’s economy and reduce its influence in the region.
The Biden administration argues that Trump’s actions backfired, as Iran walked away from the nuclear deal and only intensified its opposition to American interests, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that Iran could now produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon. within “a few months.”
But Blinken warned again that a return to the nuclear deal would not be swift.
“If you decide to go back to the deal, that may take some time, then it will take us some time to assess whether, in fact, they fulfilled their obligations,” Blinken told NBC News in an interview broadcast Monday. .
Zarif in his interview said that Iran could return to its previous commitments “in less than a day.”
“Some may take a few days or weeks, but it will not take longer for the United States to implement the executive orders that are necessary to return the oil, banking, transportation and other areas of Iran that President Trump violated,” in operation ” Zarif said.
Iran denies that it is seeking a nuclear weapon, but rival Israel has accused otherwise and threatened military action.
© 2021 AFP
