According to AP citing unnamed officials and sources familiar with the matter, US President Donald Trump is expected to extend sanctions relief to Iran as part of the 2015 nuclear deal this week "citing progress" in amending US legislation that regulates Washington's participation in agreement.
Separately, Reuters reported citing its sources in the US administration as saying that Trump is still weighing options and is privately reluctant to waive the sanctions. According to the news agency citing a senior official, Trump's top advisers will recomment him to extend Iran's relief from sanctions. The move, however, will likely to be accompanied by new sanctions against Tehran.
On January 9, the US State Department announced that the US administration was expected to decide on extending the Iran sanctions waiver on Friday.
Most recently, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this day, said that Tehran regretted that one of the parties to the nuclear deal didn't fulfill its obligations under the agreement but made attempts to hamper its implementation instead.
READ MORE: Iran Ready to Speed Up Uranium Enrichment If US Violates Nuclear Deal — Official
In October 2017, Trump refused to certify that Iran was in compliance with the agreement but stopped short of pulling the United States out of the pact, prompting condemnation from other members of the P5+1 that had brokered the historic deal.
In July 2015, Iran and the P5+1 group of nations — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom plus Germany — signed the JCPOA. The agreement stipulates a gradual lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran in exchange for Tehran maintaining peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
