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Iran Willing to Talk with US if Trump Lifts Sanctions

VOA News

   Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif says his country is
   willing to negotiate with the U.S., but only if it lifts harsh economic
   sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
   The U.S. imposed sanctions on Iran in 2017 before withdrawing from a
   2015 nuclear deal last year that requires Iran to slash its uranium
   enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.
   "Once those sanctions are lifted ... the room for negotiation is wide
   open," Zarif said in an NBC News interview that aired Monday.
   Zarif, who is in New York for meetings at the United Nations, said the
   U.S. abandoned a diplomatic approach when it pulled out of the deal.
   Zarif accused the U.S. of further escalating Middle East tensions by
   selling billions of dollars of weapons to regional rivals Saudi Arabia
   and the United Arab Emirates, threatening his country's ballistic
   missile program.
   "These are American weaponry that is going into our region, making our
   regional ready to explode," he said. "So if they want to talk about our
   missiles, they need to first stop selling all these weapons, including
   missiles, to our region."

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