US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran has requested the lifting of heavy US sanctions, adding that he is open to discussing the possibility. \u201cFrankly, Iran has been asking if the sanctions could be lifted. They\u2019re facing very heavy US sanctions, which makes it really hard,\u201d Trump said during a dinner with Central Asian leaders at the White House. \u201cI\u2019m open to hearing that, and we\u2019ll see what happens but I would be open to it,\u201d he added. Western powers, including the United States, have long accused Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies, insisting its program is purely peaceful. Iran has been under years of international sanctions, particularly since Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed strict economic measures. Tensions escalated in June, when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, triggering a 12-day war that briefly drew in the United States with targeted strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The conflict marked by Iranian missile and drone attacks in retaliation \u2014 derailed the fragile nuclear talks that had been ongoing between Tehran and Washington since April. Trump said Iran had once been the \u201cbully of the Middle East,\u201d but \u201cno longer has the possibility of nuclear weapons.\u201d The Republican president, who returned to office in January, has repeatedly claimed that recent strikes destroyed much of Iran\u2019s nuclear infrastructure, though the full extent of the damage remains unclear. In September, the United Nations reinstated sanctions against Tehran under the so-called “snapback” mechanism after Britain, France and Germany triggered the process. Those measures bar dealings linked to the Islamic republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities. Oman, which has hosted several rounds of US-Iran nuclear talks, has called on both sides to return to negotiations. The talks had aimed for a new agreement that would curb Iran’s nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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