The United States is weighing a wide array of ideas on how to revive the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, including an option where both sides would take small steps short of full compliance to buy time, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.
This option could entail Washington allowing Tehran to get economic benefits less valuable than the sanctions relief it received under the 2015 deal in return for Iran stopping, or perhaps reversing, its own breaches of the agreement, the report said.
The sources stressed US President Joe Biden has yet to decide his policy. His stated position remains that Iran resume full compliance with the pact before the United States will.
The White House declined comment beyond spokeswoman Jen Psaki's statement that if Tehran resumed compliance, Washington would do so and that "the ball's in Iran's court."
A State Department spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Biden administration was still consulting Congress as well as allies and partners.
"We are exploring a range of ideas consistent with our stated policy of being willing to return into compliance with the deal if Iran is," the spokeswoman told Reuters, without elaborating.
Former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 agreement nearly three years ago and reimposed sanctions on Iran. The Islamic Republic, in turn, has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 deal.
Biden has expressed a desire to return to the 2015 agreement but has stressed he would return to the 2015 agreement if Iran returned to compliance with it.
Iran has repeatedly made clear that it will not renegotiate the original agreement.
Biden told CBS News in an interview which aired on Sunday that the US will not lift its sanctions on Tehran until Iran freezes its uranium enrichment.