Iran president calls for nuclear deal guarantees ahead of U.N. visit

Tehran would be serious about reviving a deal on its nuclear program if there were guarantees the United States would not again withdraw from it, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Last month, Iran's foreign minister said Tehran needed stronger guarantees from Washington for the revival of the 2015 deal and urged the U.N. atomic watchdog to drop its "politically motivated probes" of Tehran's nuclear work.

In his remarks ahead of a visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, Raisi said, "It needs to be lasting. There need to be guarantees. If there were a guarantee, then the Americans could not withdraw from the deal."

He said the Americans broke their promises on the deal, under which Tehran had restrained its nuclear program in exchange for relief from U.S., European Union and U.N. economic sanctions.

Overcoming the impasse

During months of talks with Washington in Vienna, Tehran demanded U.S. assurances that no future U.S. president would abandon the deal as former President Donald Trump did in 2018.

The deal appeared near revival in March.

But indirect talks between Tehran and Washington then broke down over several issues, including Tehran's insistence that the International Atomic Energy Agency close its investigation into uranium traces found at three undeclared sites before the pact is revived.

There has been no sign that Tehran and Washington will manage to overcome their impasse but Iran is expected to use the U.N. General Assembly to keep the diplomatic ball rolling by repeating its willingness to reach a sustainable deal.

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