US Says Iran Must Address its Concerns for Sanctions Relief Beyond Nuclear Deal

Police stand outside a hotel where a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, is held in Vienna, Austria, April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Police stand outside a hotel where a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, is held in Vienna, Austria, April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
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US Says Iran Must Address its Concerns for Sanctions Relief Beyond Nuclear Deal

Police stand outside a hotel where a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, is held in Vienna, Austria, April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
Police stand outside a hotel where a meeting of the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, is held in Vienna, Austria, April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

The United States said on Thursday if Iran wanted sanctions relief beyond that of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal - an apparent reference to removing Iran's Revolutionary Guards from a US terrorism list - it must address US concerns beyond the pact.

"We are not negotiating in public, but if Iran wants sanctions lifting that goes beyond the JCPOA, they will need to address concerns of ours beyond the JCPOA," a State Department spokesperson said, referring to the 2015 deal by the acronym for formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

"Conversely, if they do not want to use these talks to resolve other bilateral issues beyond the JCPOA, then we are confident that we can very quickly reach an understanding on the JCPOA and begin reimplementing the deal," Reuters quoted the spokesperson as saying. "Iran needs to make a decision."

The US spokesperson was responding to a top Iranian official who earlier said Iran will not give up on its plans to avenge the 2020 US assassination of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, despite "regular offers" from Washington to lift sanctions and provide other concessions in return.

The Quds Force is the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that controls its allied militia abroad. The Trump administration put the IRGC on the State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations in 2019, marking the first time Washington had formally labeled another nation’s military a terrorist group.

"Under any return to the JCPOA, the United States would retain and aggressively use our powerful tools to address Iran’s destabilizing activities and its support for terrorism and terrorist proxies, and especially to counter the IRGC," the State Department spokesperson said.



Iran Targets Multiple Sites in Israel after US Attack

22 June 2025, Israel, Tel Aviv: First Responders gather around a destroyed building after Iranian strikes on Israel. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
22 June 2025, Israel, Tel Aviv: First Responders gather around a destroyed building after Iranian strikes on Israel. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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Iran Targets Multiple Sites in Israel after US Attack

22 June 2025, Israel, Tel Aviv: First Responders gather around a destroyed building after Iranian strikes on Israel. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
22 June 2025, Israel, Tel Aviv: First Responders gather around a destroyed building after Iranian strikes on Israel. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Iran's armed forces said Sunday they targeted multiple sites in Israel including Ben Gurion airport, after US attacks on key nuclear sites in Iran.

"The twentieth wave of Operation Honest Promise 3 began using a combination of long-range liquid and solid fuel missiles with devastating warhead power," the armed forces said in a statement quoted by Fars news agency.

The targets included the airport, a "biological research center,” logistics bases and various layers of command and control centres, it added.

The Iranian missiles wounded 16 in Israel, the Magen David Adom rescue service said.

Several buildings were also damaged.

Shortly after the Iranian missile barrage, Israel announced its warplanes were conducting strikes on “military targets” in western Iran.

The United States attacked three sites in Iran early Sunday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Washington had “betrayed diplomacy” with the military strikes in support of Israel, and said now “the US has itself launched a dangerous war against Iran.”