Biden administration announces it is open to talks with Iran on rejoining nuclear deal

The international agreement signed by Barack Obama was ditched in 2018 by Donald Trump

Biden administration announces it is open to talks with Iran on rejoining nuclear deal (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

The Biden administration has announced it is open to talks with Iran on rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal.

The United States will accept an invitation to joint talks with world powers and Iran to “to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran’s nuclear program,” according to the State Department.

No meeting has yet been set, but the US will be invited to talks with the European countries who originally set up the deal.

The invitation is expected shortly following discussions between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts.

The president had said he planned to rejoin talks after the US was pulled out of the deal by his predecessor Donald Trump.

The ex-president took the US out of the agreement in 2018, claiming it did not go far enough to curb Iran’s ballistic missile programme.

The 2015 deal, negotiated by Barack Obama, was designed to prevent Iran developing its nuclear weapons, which it has denied having interest in.

‘The United States would accept an invitation from the European Union High Representative to attend a meeting of the P5+1 and Iran to discuss a diplomatic way forward on Iran´s nuclear program,’ said State Department spokesman Ned Price in a statement.

The deal, which is known as the JCPOA, was negotiated with Iran by the US, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

Mr Biden would be represented at the talks by his special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, a State Department official briefed reporters.

Iran has said it will stop part of International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of its nuclear facilities next week if the West doesn’t implement its own commitments under the 2015 deal. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.