Report: Biden Weighing Lifting Trump-era Sanctions on Iran

By Staff, Agencies 

A new report revealed that “US President Joe Biden is weighing lifting many of the harshest sanctions against Iran imposed by former President Donald Trump administration in an effort to get Tehran back into compliance with the Iran nuclear deal.”

While it is unknown which sanctions are under consideration, unnamed former and current officials cited by AP said the current administration is open to removing sanctions inconsistent with the deal.

Representatives from the US are in Vienna, where Iran is discussing the possibility of reviving the deal with other signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as the JCPOA or Iran nuclear deal. Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, imposing sanctions on Iran.

A State Department official involved in the negotiations told AP that the Biden administration is open to lifting sanctions that would prevent Iran from benefiting from the deal, likely those dealing with international financial transactions.

Biden’s administration, the official said, would “have to go through every sanction to look at whether they were legitimately or not legitimately imposed.”

“Any return to the JCPOA would require sanctions relief,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “but we are considering removing only those sanctions that are inconsistent with the JCPOA.”

This comes as the Islamic Republic insists that all sanctions be removed before returning to the nuclear deal.