Iran may return to nuclear deal if US sanctions lifted: Khamenei

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region —Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled that Iran may return to the nuclear deal if US sanctions are lifted. 

"Iran's majlis [parliament] and the government's decision to enrich uranium to 20 percent is totally logical and wise. When they [US] do not abide by any of their JCPOA commitments, it is nonsensical for Iran to abide by all its commitments. If they return to it, so will we. Our logical demand is the lifting of sanctions,” Khamenei said in a Friday statement published to his official website.

Iran on Monday began enriching uranium up to 20 percent at an underground facility, a short technical step from weapons-grade levels and yet another breach of the nuclear deal. 

The announcement follows a series of provocative action by Tehran in recent days.

Iran’s revolutionary guards unveiled an underground missile base  in the Gulf on Friday, Reuters reported Iranian state media as saying, just days after it seized a South Korean-flagged vessel bound for the UAE in the Persian Gulf. 

Tehran and Washington have been at loggerheads since the Iranian revolution of 1979, when young revolutionaries and followers of Ruhollah Khomeini took over the US embassy and held dozens of diplomats and staff hostage for 444 days. The US government has imposed sanctions on Tehran for decades, accusing the country of seeking a nuclear bomb and perpetrating terrorism or supporting terrorist groups across the world.

Washington began imposing new sanctions on Tehran following the US’ unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal in 2018. Tensions between the US and the Islamic Republic have been on the rise ever since, coming to a head with the US assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani near Baghdad International Airport in January 2020.

The United States Department of Treasury imposed fresh sanctions on Iran on Tuesday, targeting the country’s steel production industry.

Khamenei said in November that the results of the US presidential election would not have no bearing on Iran’s policy towards Washington. Incoming president Joe Biden has voiced a potential US return to the deal. 

The statement comes after the US congress on Wednesday confirmed Biden as the next US President, the same day Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC in opposition to the November election results.

"Have you seen the situation in the US? This is their democracy and this is their election fiasco. Today, the US and 'American values' are ridiculed even by their friends," Khamenei added on Friday.

He also criticized “Western” vaccines against the novel COVID-19, a virus which has hit Iran particularly hard. 

"Importing vaccines made in the US or the UK is prohibited. They are completely untrustworthy. It is not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations. Given our experience with France's HIV-tainted blood supplies, French vaccines aren't trustworthy either."

Iran’s Red Crescent cancelled the import of 150,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine following Khamenei’s speech, Tasnim News reported shortly after the speech was televised. 

Iran has recorded more than 2.6 million cases and 55,000 deaths since the pandemic began.