Iran expects sanctions on banks, oil to be lifted based on nuclear talks

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said that Tehran expects US sanctions on oil, banks and other sectors and on most individuals and institutions to be lifted based on agreements reached so far at talks in Vienna, Iranian state media reported on Saturday.

Russia and Western European powers, meanwhile, gave contrasting accounts of the task ahead in the talks to bring Iran and the United States fully back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, as the talks adjourned for six days.

“Sanctions… on Iran’s energy sector, which include oil and gas, or those on the automotive industry, financial, banking and port sanctions, all should be lifted based on agreements reached so far,” Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.

Araqchi did not say under what mechanism sanctions would be lifted, or refer to how Tehran would meet Washington’s demands and return to its commitments under the deal.

“We will negotiate until the two sides’ positions come closer and our demands are met,” he said. “If they are met there will be an agreement, if not there will naturally be no agreement.”

The US State Department had no immediate comment on Araqchi’s remarks.

US President Joe Biden is seeking to return to the deal after Washington pulled out in 2018 under president Donald Trump and reimposed sanctions against Tehran. Iran responded by breaching many of the deal’s limits on its nuclear activities.

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Israel has opposed the revival of the Iran deal and believes that the continuation of the crippling US sanctions the Trump administration imposed on Iran are the best method to prevent Tehran from producing nuclear weapons.

“The Iranian regime will only compromise if it faces determined pressure to do so,” an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night. “Of course they want the sanctions lifted, and if that happens prematurely, the leverage to get the Iranians to dismantle their nuclear infrastructure will be all but lost.”

Mossad Director Yossi Cohen and National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat were in Washington last week to discuss regional strategic threats, as well as the dangers of reviving the Iran deal.

According to Israel’s Channel 12 news station, Cohen met with Biden in the White House on Friday. He was briefed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to the meeting. Members of the US National Security Council were also present.

State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters in Washington on Thursday that the US has “updated our Israeli counterparts before every round of negotiations, after every round of negotiations, and we’ve been consulting with them during these negotiations as well.”

He confirmed that a delegation of US officials was headed to the Middle East this week to speak with US allies. “A senior interagency delegation will be traveling over the coming week to discuss a number of important matters related to US national security and ongoing efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East,” Price said.

“I suppose I would hasten to add that this delegation is not focused on any one issue, certainly not focused just on Iran and anything that may emanate from the ongoing discussions in Vienna.”

Talks to revive the Iran deal began last month in Vienna with the remaining parties to the deal – Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany – meeting in the basement of a luxury hotel, and the United States based in another hotel across the street. Iran has refused to hold direct meetings with US officials.

“We have much work, and little time, left,” senior diplomats from the so-called E3 – France, Britain and Germany – said in a statement. “Against that background, we would have hoped for more progress this week.”

Officials have said they hope to reach a deal by May 21, when an agreement between Tehran and the UN nuclear watchdog on continued monitoring of some Iranian nuclear activities is due to expire.

“We have yet to come to an understanding on the most critical points,” they added. “Success is by no means guaranteed, but not impossible.”

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday that the talks were in “an unclear place,” meaning it was uncertain whether they would lead to an agreement.

“We should not expect breakthroughs in the days to come,” Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog, told reporters after a meeting of the remaining parties that wrapped up the third round of talks.