Protesters burn pictures of US president-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump during a demonstration against the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's top nuclear scientist, in Tehran, Iran, November 28 2020. Picture: MAJID ASQARIPOUR/WANA/REUTERS
“This puts an end to this one-way street,” the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told the chamber on Tuesday to chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”, which Iran blames for the killing. The 2015 nuclear deal has been hanging by a thread since President Donald Trump walked away from it more than two years ago, reimposed sanctions on Iran and triggered a security crisis in the Persian Gulf. Iran has responded by reducing its compliance with the accord, which hardliners inside and outside parliament had opposed from the outset.
US president-elect Joe Biden has said he aims to rejoin the agreement once he enters office, provided Iran also returns to full compliance. The International Atomic Energy Organisation — the UN body that conducts the nuclear inspections in Iran — reported in November that the country’s enriched uranium stockpile has risen eightfold since Trump quit the pact.