US continues to pursue sanctions against Iran: Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry says Washington is firmly pursuing sanctions against Iran, despite an initial nuclear agreement reached in Geneva in November last year.

Kerry told US senators on Capitol Hill on Thursday that US sanctions against Iran have not been weakened by the initial agreement between Iran and six major world powers over its nuclear energy program, claiming Iran is not open for business.

“We have made it crystal clear that Iran is not open for business,” Kerry stated at a US Senate subcommittee hearing.

Kerry’s remarks came a month after Iran welcomed business delegations from a number of countries including France after the recent easing of sanctions against Tehran.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States — plus Germany signed an interim nuclear agreement in Geneva, Switzerland, last November.

Under the Geneva agreement, the Sextet agreed to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period.

Iran and the P5+1 group continued their talks in the Austrian capital Vienna last month in order to reach a final agreement. According to Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the talks concluded on February 20 with “an agreement on the framework and plan of action for the comprehensive nuclear talks”.

Kerry said Iran has to take some “tough decisions” in order to hammer out a comprehensive deal with the major world powers.

“We believe we’re heading in the right direction. I can’t tell you where it’s going to finally land, we don’t know,” Kerry said of the negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group due to resume next week.

“There’s some very tough decisions the Iranians are going to have to make — very tough — in order to meet the international community’s standard for certainty as to the peacefulness of this program,” he stated.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions on Iran have been imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.