Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says it still remains to be seen if US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are prepared to depart from their predecessors’ attitude towards Iran.

“It remains unclear whether POTUS (President of the United States) and Sec Blinken are ready to bury the failed ‘maximum pressure’ policy of Trump and Mike Pompeo, and cease using Economic Terrorism as bargaining ‘leverage,’” Zarif tweeted on Monday.

The US left a historic 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and others under former president Donald Trump. Ex-American top diplomat Mike Pompeo was among those playing a notable role in escalating the situation that led to Washington’s departure.


It remains unclear whether @POTUS and @SecBlinken are ready to bury the failed “maximum pressure” policy of Trump and @mikepompeo, and cease using #EconomicTerrorism as bargaining “leverage”.

Iran is in compliance with the #JCPOA. Just read paragraph 36.

Time to change course.



— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) June 7, 2021

Washington then returned the inhumane economic sanctions that the deal -- officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- had lifted.