Iran has dropped some of its main demands in resurrecting a nuclear deal, including Tehran’s insistence that international inspectors close some probes of its atomic program. Senior U.S. officials have said this means the possibility of an agreement is coming closer.
The United States is set to soon respond to a draft agreement proposed by the European Union, which would bring back the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Former President Donald Trump scrapped and abandoned the deal when he was in the White House. President Joe Biden has sought to resurrect the Obama-era deal.
U.S. officials said although Tehran has been saying Washington has made concessions, Iran has dropped some of its key demands.
“We think they have finally crossed the Rubicon and moved toward possibly getting back into the deal on terms that President Biden can accept,” the anonymous official added.
“If we are closer today, it’s because Iran has moved. They conceded on issues that they have been holding onto from the beginning.”
Iran had already largely abandoned its demand that the U.S. lift its designation of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. The U.S. told Iran it will under no circumstances do that.
Last month, Iran reportedly began to soften this core demand and said the foreign terrorist organization designation could be kept, but that they would like the listing to be lifted from a number of companies affiliated with the IRGC. The U.S. also pushed back on this.
Another hardline for the U.S. is pushing back on an Iranian demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would close investigations involving unexplained traces of uranium.
There are still gaps that remain between the United States and Iran that could take a little longer to come to a final agreement if one is possible, officials said.
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