Iran: Lift sanctions immediately or no final nuke deal

Show Caption Hide Caption Iran: Lift sanctions or no deal Iran's president says Iran will sign a final nuclear agreement only if economic sanctions against the nation are removed on the first day of the deal's implementation.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, joined that nation's president Thursday in saying any nuclear agreement must include the immediate lifting of economic sanctions choking the country.

In his first public comments on the framework for a deal with world powers released last week, Khamenei told a gathering of religious poets he "is neither for nor against" the agreement. Because the agreement is just on a framework, not a deal itself, "nothing has been done yet," he said.

"What has happened so far neither guarantees a deal … nor does it guarantee the content of a deal," he said. "It doesn't even guarantee the talks will go on until the end and will lead to a deal."

He said the punitive "sanctions should be lifted completely on the very day of the deal."

The United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany — the so-called P5 +1 group — reached an understanding with Iran last week on limits to its nuclear program in return for lifting crippling economic sanctions.

The United States has said the sanctions would be lifted in phases, but the details have not been negotiated.

Negotiators have until June 30 to fill in the critical details to assure Iran it will get relief from the sanctions as soon as possible and to guarantee world powers that Iran won't develop a nuclear weapon.

"The process of sanctions suspension or relief will only begin after Iran has completed its major nuclear steps and the breakout time has been increased to at least a year," State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said Thursday in Washington.

"That's consistent with what we said over the last week or so, and that was agreed upon by all the parties," he said.

Khamenei said the group of world powers is "not to be trusted" and may try "to limit Iran" in further talks.

President Hassan Rouhani, in a televised address at a ceremony marking Iran's nuclear technology day, also appeared to rule out a gradual removal of the sanctions, which have devastated Iran's economy.

"We will not sign any agreement, unless all economic sanctions are totally lifted on the first day of the implementation of the deal," Rouhani said. "We want a win-win deal for all parties involved in the nuclear talks.

"The Iranian nation has been and will be the victor in the negotiations," he said.

The framework deal agreed to after extended talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, states that sanctions will be suspended after international monitors verify Iran is abiding by the limitations set out and that sanctions will resume if Iran fails to fulfill its obligations.

Khamenei, who has the final say on matters of state, said reaching a successful deal would demonstrate that negotiations can work and are possible on other issues beyond the nuclear program.

Khamenei has backed the negotiating team despite criticism of the process from Iranian hard-liners, and his remarks were interpreted by some as signaling continued support.

"If you read between the lines, the supreme leader said he is willing to approve an extension of the talks," Haleh Esfandiari, who directs the Middle East program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told the Associated Press. "If he was not interested in the negotiations, he would have just said, 'We did what we could' and just stop.''

Rouhani also called for an end to airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, calling them a "mistake."

Not singling out any country, he said, "You learned that it was wrong. You will learn, not later but soon, that you are making mistake in Yemen, too," the AP reported.

Rouhani called for a cease-fire in Yemen to enable talks to end the crisis, adding to calls by the Red Cross and Russia for a cease-fire to allow aid into the war-torn nation.

Wednesday, the Pentagon said the U.S. military has begun air-refueling operations for the coalition conducting the airstrikes, as Iran-backed Shiite rebels known as Houthis continued their advance on the southern port city of Aden.

The Pentagon said the United States would expedite delivery of ammunition, including bombs and guidance systems, to the Saudis and other coalition members.

Thursday, the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh overran Ataq, the capital of the oil-rich southeastern Shabwa province, in their first significant gain since the airstrikes began, the AP reported.