President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, March 7, 2021.  (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)

Tuesday, 06 April 2021 07:28 AM

The United States is set to start talks with EU negotiators on Tuesday in Austria’s capital Vienna aimed at salvaging an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, which Washington withdrew from in 2018.

President Joe Biden has said he is ready to reverse the decision of his predecessor Donald Trump and return to the 2015 agreement, which was supposed to ensure that Iran never developed a military nuclear program.

But Iran is demanding an end to crippling sanctions imposed by Trump and has refused to meet U.S. negotiators at the latest talks, meaning European players will act as intermediaries.

Ahead of the talks, U.S. special envoy Rob Malley suggested that the United States could be open to lifting sanctions and returning to the 2015 deal, comments Iran government spokesman Ali Rabiei called “promising.”

“We find this position realistic and promising. It could be the start of correcting the bad process that had taken diplomacy to a dead end,” he told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

READ MORE HERE: US to Join Talks Aimed at Salvaging Iran Nuclear Deal | Newsmax.com