US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says her country will be careful in how it decides to lift sanctions from Iran if current talks in Austria on reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, better known as JCPOA, bear fruit.
Yellen made the remarks on Thursday while answering questions about Iran and its support for Palestinian groups in the Committee on Oversight and Reform in the United States House of Representatives, according to a report by the IRNA news agency and other international outlets.
The remarks showed that the administration of US President Joe Biden would have second thoughts about lifting sanctions imposed on Iran by his predecessor Donald Trump more than three years ago when he decided to abandon the JCPOA.
Talks involving Iran and six other parties to the JCPOA have continued in Vienna in an effort to bring Tehran and Washington back to compliance with the deal.
During indirect talks with the US authorities, Iranian negotiators have been pressing for the full removal of sanctions imposed by Trump if Washington wants Tehran to return to the JCPOA.
However, Yellen said the US will decide what sanctions it will deem appropriate to lift if Iran resumes compliance with the nuclear deal.
“So we will carefully review what sanctions relief would be appropriate if Iran takes the appropriate steps,” she said, according to remarks covered by ANI and Sputnik News.
The IRNA report said that Yellen had made the remarks while clarifying the US position on Iran’s support for Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation nearly a week after a war between Israel and the Gaza-based resistance group Hamas ended in a ceasefire.