Ayatollah Ali Khamenei refused any commitment on Iranian nuclear power without lifting economic sanctions.

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/ AP / SIPA

The dialogue resumes, but remains tense.

The United States must first "fully lift" the sanctions imposed on Iran before Tehran resumes its commitments under the international Iran nuclear agreement, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.

"If they want Iran to return to its commitments (...) the United States must fully lift the sanctions, in practice and not on paper," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a televised speech.

"We will then check if in fact the sanctions have been lifted correctly," he said.

Biden wants to return to the Vienna agreement

In May 2018, President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the international Iran nuclear deal reached in Vienna in 2015, reinstating in the wake of heavy sanctions that plunged Iran into a deep recession and deprived of the economic benefits he hoped for from the deal.

The new American president, Joe Biden, wants to return to the Vienna agreement supposed to prevent Tehran from acquiring atomic weapons.

However, he conditioned this decision on a prior return from Iran to strict compliance with its commitments, from which it has begun to shy away in response to American sanctions.

For its part, Tehran calls above all for the lifting of sanctions and for Washington to respect all of its obligations.

"This is the final policy of the Islamic Republic and it is also the consensus of the country's officials," Ayatollah Khamenei said on Sunday, affirming that "we will not go back on this policy.

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European mediation?

In early February, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif asked the European Union to coordinate a synchronized return of Washington and Tehran.

The United States, however, felt it was too early to accept Iran's proposal to put the Iran nuclear deal back on track.

According to Ali Khamenei, Iran has "the right to set the conditions for the continuation" of this pact, and not the United States and three European members of the agreement - Great Britain, France and Germany - who have " violated all their commitments ”.

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