Iran pressed the United States on Monday for guarantees that it will drop sanctions as a condition for a nuclear deal, after the White House reportedly sent a proposal it deemed “acceptable”. With Iran and the United States engaged in talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme since April, Washington’s proposal for a deal came after a leaked UN report said Iran had stepped up production of highly enriched uranium. Iran’s top diplomat and lead nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi was due to meet the head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Cairo on Monday, a day after the report was leaked.
