U.S. Ready To Talk With Iran On Nuclear Deal

State Dept. Spokesman Ned Price, seen on Monday, says the Biden administration is willing to talk with Iranian and European officials about the nuclear deal.

Kevin Lamarque / AP

The United States said on Thursday it was ready to restart diplomacy with Tehran around a nuclear deal sealed between Iran and world powers, but which the Trump administration had abandoned in 2018.

“The United States would accept an invitation from the European Union High Representative to attend a meeting of the P5+1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran’s nuclear program,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said, referring to the U.N. Security Council’s five permanent members and Germany.

Speaking to reporters on background, two senior State Department officials described two steps that Washington had taken to remove what they said were “obstacles to multilateral diplomacy.” The officials said the U.S. had reversed travel restrictions that the Trump administration had put in place on Iranian diplomats at the United Nations. The Biden administration also told the United Nations earlier on Thursday it was rescinding a Trump administration claim that U.N. sanctions against Iran “snapped back” and should be enforced.