US President Joe Biden made it clear today (Sunday) that his country will not lift a heavy economic embargo on Tehran in order to return to the negotiating table with it in the nuclear deal. Biden demanded that Iran may stop increasing uranium in a way that is beyond the agreement before negotiations between the two countries.

The remarks were made for the US news network CBS and they constitute the first reference of its kind on the Iran nuclear issue since Biden was elected president. Biden has previously stated that he is interested in returning to a nuclear deal with Iran and believes that a mere withdrawal of the agreement will prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Today, Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei spoke on the issue of the nuclear deal and reiterated his country’s demand for the United States to lift the sanctions before returning to the nuclear deal. “If they want us to take back what was promised under the agreement, then the Americans should remove the restrictions, not just in words or on paper.”

The leader wrote in a Twitter tweet that: “Iran is the party with the right to keep the terms of the nuclear deal, not the United States or three European countries have broken their promises.” Khamnai later tweeted, apparently in response to Biden’s comment that “the post-United States era has begun.”

Yesterday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Muhammad Jawad Zarif said that the United States should hurriedly negotiate with its country before changing President Rouhani’s rule. Zarif mentioned that a law passed by the Iranian parliament is expected to come into force next month, which would make it difficult for any changes to the agreement.