Iran President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the US should lift all sanctions in return for talks on the country’s nuclear deal.
Rouhani said Washington should « take the first step » to unconditionally end its punishing economic embargo on Iran, a day after US President Donald Trump said he was open to meeting with the Iran president.
« The step is to retreat from sanctions. You must retreat from all illegal, unjust and wrong sanctions against the nation of Iran, » Rouhani said in a speech aired live on state television.
He said « the key for positive change is in the hands of Washington », because Iran had no intention of building a nuclear bomb.
« If honestly this is your only concern, this concern has already been removed » through a fatwa issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he said.
Khamenei is said to have issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons in 2003 and has reiterated it several times since.
« So take the first step. Without this step, this lock will not be unlocked, » Rouhani said.
It comes after Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif made a suprise visit to the G7 meeting in France.
Trump unilaterally pulled out of a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal in May last year and ordered punishing sanctions on Tehran.