Speaking at a televised cabinet meeting Wednesday, Rouhani said the ball was “in the US court now.”
“If Washington returns to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, we will also fully respect our commitments under the pact,” he said, adding in reference to Trump that “a tyrant’s era came to an end and today is the final day of his ominous reign.”
With Biden — who was a member of the Obama administration which negotiated the original deal — entering office Thursday, hopes are high for rapprochement.
At the meeting Wednesday, Rouhani castigated Trump, saying his four years in office “bore no fruit other than injustice and corruption and causing problems for his own people and the world.”
What was in the nuclear deal?
The deal, struck in Vienna following two years of intensive talks orchestrated by the Obama administration, was signed by Iran and six other nations in 2015.
Under the deal, the Iranian government agreed to three key things: reducing the number of centrifuges in the country by two-thirds, slashing its stockpile of enriched uranium, and capping ongoing enrichment at 3.67%, an amount sufficient for energy provision but not enough to build a nuclear bomb.
In addition, Iran was required to limit uranium research and development, and allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) certain access to its nuclear facilities.
In return for its compliance, all nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were lifted in January 2016, reconnecting the country’s stagnating economy with international markets.
Biden’s move
“I will offer Tehran a credible path back to diplomacy,” the then-candidate wrote in September. “If Iran returns to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the agreement as a starting point for follow-on negotiations.”
CNN’s Steve George, Ramin Mostaghim and Mostafa Salem contributed reporting.
