As US negotiators head back to Vienna for what could be a make-or-break session, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed several sanctions waivers related to Iran's civilian nuclear activities.Â
The move reverses the Trump administration's decision to rescind them.
The waivers are intended to entice Iran to return to compliance with the 2015 deal that it has been violating since former president Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and reimposed US sanctions.
Iran has demanded the restoration of all sanctions relief it was promised under the deal to return to compliance.
Friday's move lifts the sanctions threat against foreign countries and companies from Russia, China and Europe that had been co-operating with non-military parts of Iran's nuclear program under the terms of the 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
The Trump administration had ended the so-called "civ-nuke" waivers in May 2020 as part of its "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran that began when Trump withdrew the US from the deal in 2018, complaining that it gave Iran a pathway to developing the bomb.
Joe Biden made a US return to the nuclear deal a priority but there has been little progress since he took office a year ago.
The State Department said in a notice to Congress on Friday that the waivers were being restored to help push the Vienna negotiations forward.
They were "also designed to serve US non-proliferation and nuclear safety interests and constrain Iran's nuclear activities".
The waivers permit foreign countries and companies to work on civilian projects at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power station, its Arak heavy water plant and the Tehran Research Reactor.
18°C