US must agree to lift its sanctions

The United States must "accept reality" and agree to lift its sanctions on Iran during next week's nuclear talks in Vienna, according to Tehran's top negotiator.

Representatives of Iran and the other signatories of its 2015 nuclear deal will be in Austria starting November 29 to try to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the US abandoned in 2018.

Iran, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany will resume six rounds of talks that stopped in June to allow Iran's new president, Ebrahim Raisi, to form his administration.

As before, the US will participate indirectly in negotiations that if successful will see harsh US sanctions on Iran lifted.

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, is expected to meet Iran's new foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, in Tehran for the first time today. ­

Grossi is expected to discuss IAEA monitoring in Iran, which has been restricted as part of the country's response to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, and in response to the assassination of a top nuclear scientist and several attacks on nuclear sites. Iran has blamed the attacks on Israel.