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US President Joe Biden said the United States will not lift sanctions against Iran unless the country stops enriching uranium. He continued a standoff with the Iranian supreme leader, who has demanded that sanctions be lifted before the country returns to its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal. The anchor and managing editor of “CBS Evening News”, Norah O’Donnell spoke to Biden in his first network news interview since his inauguration. O’Donnell asked Biden, “Will the US lift sanctions first in order to get Iran back to the negotiating table?” Biden responded, “No, they have to stop enriching uranium first?” The US and other world powers agreed to lift crippling economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for limits on the country’s nuclear program under the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.

Point to be noted that former President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal in 2018 and re-imposed those sanctions. Biden has said he plans to rejoin the agreement. Iran announced in early January that it had resumed advanced uranium enrichment in violation of the terms of the 2015 deal. Last month, a global nuclear watchdog also informed the United Nations that Iran has started to manufacture equipment used to produce uranium metal, which can be used to make the core of a nuclear warhead. On Sunday, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the US must lift sanctions before Iran meets its commitments under the nuclear accords. The Iranian foreign minister said in November that the country would automatically return to its commitments if Biden lifts sanctions imposed by Trump.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “If Iran took the first step and came back into compliance with the terms of the deal as currently written, we would, too. But we would use that as a platform to seek a longer and stronger agreement, but also to capture these other issues, particularly with missiles and other destabilizing activity. We are a long way from there”. Biden said about another key foreign relation between the US and China. O’Donnell asked Biden, “The US-China relationship is probably one of the most important in the entire world. Why haven’t you called Xi Jinping”? Biden responded and said, “Well, we haven’t had occasion to talk to him yet. There’s no reason not to call him. I probably spent more time with Xi Jinping, I’m told, than any world leader has, because I had 24, 25 hours of private meetings with him when I was vice president”.