US sanctions on oil, banks expected to be lifted: Iran negotiator

Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi did not say under which mechanism sanctions would be lifted, as European diplomats say success to revive the 2015 nuclear pact was not ‘guaranteed’ but also ‘not impossible’.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said Tehran expects US sanctions on oil, banks and other sectors and on most individuals and institutions to be lifted based on agreements reached so far at talks in Vienna, Iranian state media reported. Russia and Western European powers meanwhile gave contrasting accounts of the task ahead in the talks to bring Iran and the United States fully back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, as the talks adjourned for six days. “Sanctions … on Iran’s energy sector, which include oil and gas, or those on the automotive industry, financial, banking and port sanctions, all should be lifted based on agreements reached so far,” Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iranian state media.