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    US says Iran eased demands for nuclear deal

    AFP – The United States (US) said on Tuesday that Iran has agreed to ease key demands that had held up the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, with all eyes on what US President Joe Biden in turn is offering.

    The US is expected to respond to Iran through European Union (EU) mediators, after a year and a half of indirect diplomacy that just weeks ago looked on the verge of collapsing. US officials said Iran dropped demands to block some UN nuclear inspections after also relaxing on insistence on a key sticking point – that Washington remove its powerful Revolutionary Guards from a terrorism blacklist.

    “Gaps still remain, but should we reach an agreement to return to the deal, Iran would have to take many significant steps to dismantle its nuclear program,” a senior official in the Biden administration said.

    Biden has supported returning to the accord trashed by former president Donald Trump and Iran has pressed hard in negotiations in Vienna. But with Iran also claiming diplomatic wins, the US official insisted that Tehran ultimately “made concessions on critical issues”.

    Iran had sought to shut down a probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into three undeclared sites where the watchdog says it has questions related to nuclear work that has since ended.

    US President Joe Biden and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. PHOTOS: AP

    In June, Iran disconnected a number of IAEA cameras after the UN body’s board censured Tehran for not adequately explaining previous traces of uranium. The senior US official said Iran would again face “the most comprehensive inspections regime ever negotiated” with monitoring “for an unlimited amount of time”.

    But Deputy Head of Research at the Eurasia Group Henry Rome said that Iran has not conceded on the undeclared sites.

    “I don’t think anyone should be surprised if this issue comes up again at a later stage of these negotiations,” Rome said.

    The recent progress came after the EU put forward a draft agreement to Iran.

    EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told Spanish public television TVE that Iran sought adjustments to it but that “most” countries agreed. Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia are also party to the agreement, formerly known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

    Biden faces heated opposition from Trump’s Republican Party as well as Israel, which campaigned against the agreement when it was reached under former president Barack Obama.

    In a letter to Biden, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee complained that the administration has left Congress in the dark.

    “The only logical conclusion to draw is that Iran’s negotiators are pleased with the outcome of negotiations, while US negotiators are still determining how to make further compromises and best sell a bad deal to the American people,” Representative Mike McCaul wrote.

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