Tehran: United States must be suffering from "Alzheimer's disease"

The United States must be suffering from "Alzheimer's disease" because it seems to have forgotten who is to blame for the current stalemate about Iran's nuclear programme, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

"It is not Iran that pulled out of the Vienna agreement, but the US. The Americans seem to have forgotten this and are apparently suffering from Alzheimer's disease in this regard," ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

Instead of threatening Tehran, he said, the US should first return to the nuclear deal itself and lift its crippling economic sanctions.

At the G20 summit in Rome over the weekend, the US - along with France, Britain and Germany - tried to increase pressure on Tehran.

The four leaders said the only way to avert a "dangerous escalation" for Iran to return to the negotiating table.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told local media on Monday that there was "no need for so much talk," demanding US President Joe Biden simply issue an executive order that returns Washington to the original deal.

The Vienna deal from 2015 was designed to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb in exchange for sanctions relief.

The accord was left in tatters when former US president Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

Tehran has been steadily breaching its terms since.

Negotiations to revive the deal started in April, but stalled after hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi became Iran's new president. Iran has said a new round of talks could begin this month.