President of Iran Has a Message for Biden

Hassan Rouhani calls on America to re-enter the nuclear deal
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 8, 2020 11:30 AM CST
President of Iran Has a Message for Biden
In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020.   (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Iran's president called on President-elect Joe Biden to "compensate for past mistakes" and return the US to Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a state-run news agency reported Sunday, per the AP. Hassan Rouhani's comments mark the highest-level response from Iran to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris clinching the Nov. 3 election. "Now, an opportunity has come up for the next US administration to compensate for past mistakes and return to the path of complying with international agreements through respect of international norms," the state-run IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. Under President Trump, tensions between the US and Iran have escalated, reaching a fever pitch earlier this year.

One of Trump's signature foreign policy moves was unilaterally withdrawing the US from Iran's nuclear deal in 2018, which had seen Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The US has since reimposed punishing sanctions on Iran that have crippled its economy, which was further battered by the coronavirus outbreak. In an effort to pressure Europe to find a way around the sanctions, Iran has slowly abandoned the limits of the nuclear deal. "The people of Iran, though their heroic resistance against the imposed economic war, proved that the US maximum pressure policy was doomed to fail," Rouhani said. He added Iran "considers constructive engagement with the world as a strategy."

(More Iranian nuclear program stories.)

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