By World Israel News Staff
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on U.S. President Joe Bide to lift or waive sanctions on Iran on while also urging Tehran to return to full implementation of the JCPOA nuclear agreement.
He also presented to the UN Security Council his bi-annual report on the implementation of the JCPOA agreement. The council was scheduled to discuss the report on Wednesday.
“I continue to believe that a full restoration of the plan remains the best way to ensure that the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran remains exclusively peaceful,” Guterres said.
In 2018, the U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA and reinstated sanctions that had been lifted by the agreement. These include crippling restrictions on trade with Iran’s energy, shipping and financial sectors. International companies have been deterred from doing business with Iran by the threat of being cut off from more lucrative U.S. markets. Iran has threatened to drop negotiations if the sanctions aren’t lifted.
As a goodwill gesture earlier in June, the U.S. lifted a small number of sanctions targeting three petrochemical companies and two individuals previously involved with them. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said there had been “a verified change in status or behavior on the part of the sanctioned parties.”
Reviving the nuclear deal is a key foreign policy priority for the Biden administration. Israel opposes the U.S. returning to the nuclear agreement The sixth round of indirect U.S.-Iran talks in Vienna concluded earlier in June with a new round yet to be scheduled.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin visited the UN on Tuesday, where he met with Guterres and envoys from a number of countries. Rivlin and Guterres reportedly discussed the Iranian threat, the UN Human Rights Council’s decision to create an unprecedented open-ended international investigation into Israel and developments in Gaza.
Rivlin was accompanied by Leah Goldin, the mother of one of two soldiers killed in Gaza whose bodies are being held by Hamas. Two other Israeli civilians are also captive in Gaza.
