US President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that he is open to discussing the strict US sanctions imposed on Iran. According to him, Tehran has repeatedly been requesting the removal of these sanctions.
During a dinner with Central Asian leaders, President Trump said, “To be very accurate, Iran has been asking if the sanctions can be removed. They are under very harsh US sanctions, which have made their situation very difficult. I am open to hearing about this subject and we will see what happens, but I am willing to discuss it.”
The United States and Western countries have long accused Iran of seeking to obtain nuclear weapons, but Iran has consistently claimed that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. In 2018, after the US withdrew from the then-international nuclear agreement and re-imposed strict economic sanctions, Iran fell under years of international blockade.
Around the middle of June this year, war nearly erupted after Israel launched an unprecedented air strike campaign against Iran. During that attack, the US also appeared to have participated in the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in support of Israel for some time. In that 12-day long war, Iran launched missile and drone attacks in response to Israeli bombings, which caused the nuclear talks that had started in April between Tehran and Washington to be suspended.
President Trump said, “Iran was once the ‘rogue’ nation of the Middle East, but now it has lost the possibility of nuclear weapons.” Since taking office for his second term in January, he has repeatedly claimed that the recent attacks have completely destroyed Iran’s nuclear program, although the actual extent of the damage is still not clear.
Last September, the United Nations, on the initiative of Britain, France, and Germany, re-imposed previous sanctions against Tehran through the ‘snapback’ mechanism. Those sanctions prohibit all economic transactions related to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities.
Oman, which has mediated several phases of the US-Iran nuclear talks, has again urged both sides to return to the negotiating table. The aim of the talks is to draft a new agreement, under which Iran would get some relief from sanctions on the condition that it limits its nuclear activities. President Trump has said, “If Iran chooses the path of peace, the doors for future cooperation will remain open.”
