Iran says ready to remain in nuclear deal

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Iran is ready to come back to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tuesday.

"Iran's fifth step of remedial reduced commitments to the July 2015 nuclear deal does not mean that the deal has ended or Iran wants to withdraw from it," Araqchi said in statements cited by the official IRNA news agency at a regional dialogue forum in Tehran.

"It just means that we've reached a reasonable balance in the JCPOA," he added, using the official name of the deal.

Araqchi said Iran could remain in the deal "if the other party remains committed to its conditions".

On Sunday, Tehran said it would abandon limitations on enriching uranium, taking a further step back from commitments to the deal.

The move came amid a heightened situation between Iran and the U.S. following the assassination of top military commander Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. drone attack in Iraq.

Tensions had been rising between the U.S. and Iran since 2018, when Washington unilaterally withdrew from the landmark deal.

The U.S. has since embarked on a diplomatic and economic campaign to put pressure on Iran in order to renegotiate the agreement.

As part of its campaign, the U.S. has re-imposed sanctions on exports of Iranian crude oil, which have severely affected Iran’s economy.

* Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara