Acting US Ambassador Richard Mills informed the 15-member body in a letter seen by Reuters.
The Trump administration quit the pact in 2018. Then in August last year former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had triggered a 30-day process at the Security Council that led to the return of U.N. sanctions on Iran and stopped a conventional arms embargo on Tehran from expiring on Oct. 18.
Thirteen of the 15 Security Council members said Washington’s move was void because Pompeo used a mechanism agreed under the 2015 nuclear deal that the Trump administration had abandoned.
On the other hand, in an interview with CBS, US President Joe Biden said that the United States will not lift sanctions against Iran as a means to resuming negotiations, and Tehran needs to stop its uranium enrichment activities first.
The remarks are a repetition of similar claims made earlier by the White House spokesperson Jen Psaki, claiming that the ball is in Iran's court.
All these remarks came while the former US President Donald Trump withdraw the US from the deal and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Amid the Europeans’ lack of action, Iran took five steps to reduce its commitments to the deal while vowing that it will reverse the course as soon as the other parties live up to their commitments under the accord.
Recently, the Iranian parliament passed a bill, dubbed the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions in early last December, setting a Feb. 21 deadline for Biden to lift the US sanctions. Otherwise, Iran will halt inspections of its nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and further boost uranium enrichment.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei highlighted that Iran will not return to its commitments unless the US lifts all sanctions and Tehran verifies Washington's measures.
ZZ/PR/ FNA13991201000009