US tries to keep Trump
sanctions on Iran, Moscow says

VIENNA (RIA Novosti): The United States appears to be trying to maintain some of the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump on Iran, which is stalling negotiations to restore the nuclear deal, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said Friday.
“The Vienna talks on the JCPOA have been suspended for 2.5 months already. It seems that the United States is trying to maintain some of the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump on Iran,” Ulyanov wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to him, Washington should demonstrate a more constructive and businesslike approach “if the US is truly committed to the principles of nuclear non-proliferation.”
Earlier Wednesday, IAE-A Director General Rafael Grossi said that the nuclear aspects in the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian Nuclear Program (JCPOA) have been largely resolved, the process is going through serious difficulties of a different kind.
In 2015, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Russia, the United States, France, and Iran concluded a nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which involved the lifting of sanctions in exchange for limiting Iran’s nuclear program. In May 2018, then US President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and reinstated sanctions against Tehran. In response, Iran announced a phased reduction in its obligations under the agreement, waiving restrictions on nuclear research, centrifuges and the level of uranium enrichment.
Negotiations were held in Vienna on the renewal of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the lifting of Washington’s sanctions against Tehran, on December 27, 2021, the eighth round started. Even during the seventh round, in December, the parties reached an agreement on two draft agreements, in which the European side included the positions of Iran. Iranian spokesman Bagheri Kyani said the talks were going well, but US State Department spokesman Ned Price assessed the progress in Vienna as modest, urging Tehran to take the issue seriously. With the return of the parties to their capitals at the end of March, the negotiations were suspended.