UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appealed to US President Joe Biden's administration to lift or waive all sanctions on Iran as agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal aimed at stopping Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.
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In a report to the UN Security Council, Guterres also urged the United States to "extend the waivers with regard to the trade in oil with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and fully renew waivers for nuclear non-proliferation projects."
The 15-member council on Tuesday was to discuss the secretary-general's biannual report on the implementation of a 2015 resolution that enshrined the nuclear deal between Iran, the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China.
Guterres' appeal to Washington comes amid talks to revive the deal – officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – under which Iran accepted curbs on its nuclear program in return for a lifting of many foreign sanctions against it.
Former US President Donald Trump abandoned the pact in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions, prompting Tehran to start violating some of the nuclear limits in 2019. Among its numerous flaws, the nuclear deal fails to address Iran's ballistic missiles, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which Tehran has said it will not negotiate with foreign powers, nor does it address Iran's ongoing support and financing of regional terrorist organizations, chief among them Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"I appeal to the United States to lift or waive its sanctions outlined in the plan," said Guterres, who also appealed to Iran to return to full implementation of the deal.
Iran has refined uranium up to a purity of roughly 60%, far above the deal's limit of 3.67% and much closer to the 90% suitable for atom bomb cores, though it maintains it could quickly reverse its moves if Washington rescinded sanctions and returned to the 2015 deal.
Guterres said: "I continue to believe that a full restoration of the [JCPOA] remains the best way to ensure that the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains exclusively peaceful."
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