WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States made clear on Monday that it would only agree to sanctions on Iran being phased out gradually as Tehran complies with a final deal to curb its nuclear program.
"You can't start talking about relieving sanctions until we've reached agreements about how we're going to shut down every pathway they have to a nuclear weapon," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a news briefing.
"It has never been our position that all of the sanctions against Iran should be removed from Day One," he said.
The White House is working aggressively to convince U.S. lawmakers and other critics to embrace the framework agreement reached on Thursday between Iran, the United States and five other major powers.
The framework was a major step toward a final deal but did not include an agreement on the timing and scope of sanctions relief. Many other issues also must be hammered out before the end-of-June deadline for a final accord.
Iran's top negotiators have interpreted the outline differently, saying sanctions relief would not occur in phases but would be lifted immediately once a nuclear accord is signed.
Earnest said Washington would want to see sustained compliance by Iran as it begins to lift sanctions.
He said Iran would be more likely to comply if its leaders knew economic sanctions would be reapplied if they violated the agreement. The United States could foresee a point at which sanctions could be dismantled, but only after "sustained compliance over a long period of time," Earnest said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said on Monday the differences in portrayals of the deal by both sides were not disputes over content but were related to what each side chose to emphasize.
"There's no doubt that right now there's a different narrative, but not in conflict with what's written down," Moniz said.