Guterres' appeal to Washington comes amid talks to revive the nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [File: John Thys/Reuters]

United Nations, June 30 (RHC)-- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to lift or waive all sanctions on Iran as agreed under a 2015 deal aimed at stopping Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

In a report to the United Nations Security Council, Guterres also urged the United States to “extend the waivers with regard to the trade-in oil with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and fully renew waivers for nuclear non-proliferation projects.”

The 15-member council will is discussing the secretary-general’s biannual report on the implementation of a 2015 resolution that enshrines the nuclear deal between Iran, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union.

Guterres’ appeal to Washington comes amid talks to revive the deal – known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – under which Iran accepted curbs on its nuclear programme in return for a lifting of many foreign sanctions against it.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the pact in 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions, prompting Tehran to start violating some of the nuclear limits in 2019.

One of Iran’s moves to reduce compliance was a decision to end extra monitoring of its nuclear sites by the IAEA in February.  The inspections were extended twice by temporary deals, the last of which ended last week.

“I appeal to the United States to lift or waive its sanctions outlined in the plan,” said Guterres, who also appealed to Iran to return to full implementation of the deal.