The Treasury sanctions are directed at more than a dozen people and companies based in China, India and the United Arab Emirates.

President Trump’s desire to engage in negotiations is a turnabout from his first term, when he often derided former President Barack Obama for agreeing to a nuclear deal with Iran.

U.S. concerns about Iran developing nuclear weapons are not a complicated issue and can be resolved given Tehran's opposition to weapons of mass destruction, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Wednesday,