Iran has reportedly dropped some of the demands regarding a potential nuclear deal and has suggested terms that President Joe Biden "can accept."
The United States intends to soon respond to a draft agreement proposed by the European Union that would see the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran brought back, Reuters reported.
This deal was signed by former President Barack Obama and was subsequently abandoned by President Donald Trump.
An official that spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Iran has dropped some of its key demands. This included the country's insistence that international inspectors close some probes of its atomic program.
"They came back last week and basically dropped the main hang-ups to a deal," the official said. "We think they have finally crossed the Rubicon and moved toward possibly getting back into the deal on terms that President Biden can accept.
"If we are closer today, it's because Iran has moved. They conceded on issues that they have been holding onto from the beginning."
Speaking about the other demands made by Iran, the official said the country had relented on its demand that the U.S. would lift its designation of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO).
"We said under no circumstances would we do that. They continued to push it. A month ago they started to soften that core demand and said you can keep the FTO designation but we would like lift it from a number of companies affiliated with the IRGC. We said 'no we're not going to do that,"
Fellow Daniel Depetris at the Defense Priorities organization reflected on the ongoing talks in a Newsweek op-ed last week and said Iran was not making the idea of a deal easy.
One concern he highlighted was Iran's caution regarding a deal due to the uncertainty of whether President Joe Biden will succeed in a re-election bid.
"The Iranians, however, aren't make it easy. In typical fashion, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has neither confirmed nor denied Tehran's acceptance and signaled that some points of dispute still need to be resolved," Depetris wrote.
"Tehran is still wary about the extent of Washington's economic promises and is doubtful the U.S. will stick with the deal if Biden loses reelection.
"Iran's public messaging has been consistent ever since a rough draft agreement was floated back in March: all that's standing the way of a successful conclusion is Washington's inflexibility.
"U.S. officials, of course, totally rejected this line of argument and have responded by pointing out that it is Iran, not the U.S., that needs to stop stonewalling."
Newsweek has contacted the White House and Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Gerrard Kaonga is a Newsweek U.S. News Reporter and is based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on U.S. ... Read more
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