Biden makes move to restore Iran nuclear deal

US President Joe Biden-led administration on Thursday (local time) made a major move to restore the Iran nuclear deal that was abandoned by the former Donald Trump administration.

According to a report by The New York Times, while restoring the Iran nuclear deal, the US has also offered to join European nations in what would be the first substantial diplomacy with Tehran in more than four years.

According to a statement by the State Department, the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran "was a key achievement of multilateral diplomacy".

Earlier, Biden had promised that he would lift the sanctions imposed by Trump "if Iran returned to the sharp limits on nuclear production that it observed until 2019".

However, Iran said that the US was the first to violate the terms of the 2015 nuclear accord and, hence, it would act only after the US reversed its earlier decision and allow Tehran to oil and conduct banking operations around the world.

According to The New York Times, the Biden administration is lifting travel restrictions on Iran officials who seek to enter the United States to attend UN meetings, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the actions were announced.

Tensions between the US and Iran had risen since Trump withdrew from Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and imposed harsh sanctions.

Trump had announced that the US withdraws from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or Iran nuclear deal.

He further called the Iran nuclear deal "defective", adding that Washington would reinstate sanctions against the Islamic republic.

He terminated the US participation in the JCPOA citing that the deal failed to protect America's national security interest.

He also underscored that the deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.

The Iran nuclear deal was signed between six countries in 2015 - Iran, US, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and China for lifting economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange for limitations to the country's nuclear programme.

( With inputs from ANI )