Iran claims that the U.S. should pay Tehran as much as US$70 billion as compensation for lost oil revenues due to the U.S. sanctions, as a prerequisite for a return to the nuclear deal. Kamal Kharrazi, the chairman of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations—a body advising Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—said this payment would be a prerequisite if U.S. President-elect Joe Biden wants to return to the so-called Iranian nuclear deal, according to the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, quoted by Bloomberg . Incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018, slapping sanctions on Iran’s oil, shipping, and banking industries and threatening sanctions on anyone dealing with Iran. Major foreign companies, such as France’s oil supermajor Total, hastened to pull out of energy projects in Iran because of potential secondary U.S. sanctions for doing business with the Islamic Republic. President-elect Biden has […]