On Thursday, Tehran hit back at the U.S. after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Iran must return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal before the Biden administration does.
“Reality check for @SecBlinken, the US violated JCPOA, blocked food/medicine to Iranians, punished adherence to UNSCR 2231,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif wrote on Twitter.
“Throughout that sordid mess, Iran abided by JCPOA, only took foreseen remedial measures. Now, who should take 1st step? Never forget Trump’s maximum failure,” Zarif added.
In his comments on Wednesday, Blinken said “it would take some time” for Iran to return to compliance and then for the US to “assess whether it was meeting its obligations.” His statement shows that the Biden administration is in no hurry to lift sanctions.
In an interview with USA Today that was published on Thursday, Iran’s ambassador to the UN said the U.S. “must act quickly” to lift sanctions on Iran and reiterated that Tehran is ready to return to the JCPOA once that happens.
“We have said time and again that if the U.S. decides to go back to its international commitments and lift all the illegal sanctions against Iran, we will go back to the full implementation of JCPOA, which will benefit all sides,” Majid Takht-Ravanchi said.
While on the campaign trail, President Biden said he would work with Iran to revive the JCPOA and restore diplomacy with the Islamic Republic. But so far, no dialogue between the two nations has been reported, and Iran is still under crippling economic sanctions.
This article was originally featured at Antiwar.com and is republished with permission.
