Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday he was certain the incoming US administration will return to its nuclear deal commitments and lift crippling sanctions on his country.
“I have no doubt that the three-year resistance of the Iranian people will persuade the future American government to return to its commitments and the sanctions will be broken,” Rouhani said, according to Reuters.
US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers in 2018 and imposed new sanctions.
President-elect Joe Biden's coming to power has raised the possibility that Washington could rejoin the agreement.
The remaining parties to the accord on Wednesday discussed ways to shore up a deal under mounting pressure from Iranian breaches, US sanctions and uncertainty before Biden takes office next month.
Representatives of China, France, Russia, Iran, Germany and Britain held two hours of virtual talks that one diplomat said involved urging Iran to stick to the deal and give space to diplomacy.
Senior EU foreign affairs official Helga Schmid issued a brief statement following the talks she chaired.
"Participants discussed... how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the agreement by all sides in light of existing challenges," it said.
While she did not say what those challenges were, the deal has unraveled steadily since Trump imposed crippling economic sanctions on Iran.
Tehran has retaliated by progressively abandoning limits on its nuclear activity laid down in the deal, most recently planning to install advanced centrifuges at Iran's main nuclear enrichment plant in Natanz.
Last week France, Germany and Britain -- collectively known as the "E3" -- condemned the plan as "deeply worrying."
