Islam Times - Biden’s Secretary of State: US to Seek ’Longer & Stronger’ Deal with Iran

Islam Times - The US will come back into a nuclear accord with Iran if it returns to compliance, and Washington will eventually seek a stronger deal of greater duration, secretary of state-designate Antony Blinken said.

US President-elect Joe Biden "believes that if Iran comes back into compliance, we would too," Blinken told his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"But we would use that as a platform with our allies and partners, who would once again be on the same side with us, to seek a longer and stronger agreement," he said.

On Monday, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said that the country was producing almost 500 grams of uranium enriched to 20 percent purity per day, after beginning to do so earlier this month at its Fordow nuclear facility.

Ali Akbar Salehi noted that if other parties were to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] then Tehran would similarly abide by the agreement.

The US unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal with world powers in 2015.

Saleh also called for immediate removal of the severe US sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which the outgoing US President Donald Trump administration placed on it, following its withdrawal in 2018 from the nuclear deal.