Tehran, Feb 8 (IANS): Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has said the anti-Iran sanctions re-imposed by the former US administration should be lifted in order to reach a "good agreement" in the ongoing Vienna nuclear talks.

"The Iranian negotiators' agenda for continuing the eighth round of talks has been carefully specified," Shamkhani tweeted on Monday, adding "an agreement in which the 'maximum pressure' sanctions are not lifted will have an impact on the country's (Iran) economy, and cannot be the basis of a good agreement."

The eighth round of Vienna talks, which had been postponed for a few days, was expected to continue in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Tuesday, according to media reports.

Under the nuclear agreement reached in June 2015, Iran agreed to some restrictions on the development of its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of the US and Western sanctions. However, former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018, and re-imposed sanctions on Iran, after which Iran responded by abandoning some of its nuclear commitments, Xinhua news agency reported.

Since April 2021, several rounds of negotiations have been undertaken between Iran and the other parties to salvage the 2015 deal, with the US indirectly involved.