France says Iran must return to nuclear deal compliance before US does
Paris backed up Washington after Russia’s government said the Biden administration must make the first move before Iran returns to compliance.
An official with France’s presidency said today that Iran must return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement and end provocations if its leaders want the United States to rejoin the deal.
“If they are serious about negotiations and if they want to obtain a re-engagement of all the stakeholders in the [nuclear deal], they firstly need to refrain from further provocations and secondly respect what they no longer respect; that’s to say, their obligations” under the deal, the official told Reuters and other news outlets on the condition of anonymity on Tuesday.
The statement on France’s position came hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Washington should first lift sanctions on Iran before Iran returns to compliance with the 2015 deal.
Lavrov told reporters that Russia and Iran “share the same position” on how a return to the agreement should be approached. The Russian minister made the statement after he met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow.
