TEHRAN— A State Department spokesperson confirmed to Al-Monitor that the Biden administration has told Congress that it has renewed a sanctions exemption allowing foreign cooperation on some of Iran's civilian nuclear projects.The waiver, which was supposed to expire this month, allows foreign corporations to do specific non-proliferation work at Iranian nuclear installations without being sanctioned by the U.S.

Its renewal was expected, and the State Department informed Congress on Friday, according to congressional aides.According to a department official, the sanctions waiver was renewed "to permit third-country participation in specific initiatives relevant to nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear safety in Iran."“This is not a signal that we are about to reach an understanding on a mutual return to full implementation of the JCPOA,” the spokesperson said. The U.S.

is unaware of any particular incident assisted by the previous waiver, according to the spokesperson, but "the waiver leaves open the prospect of nonproliferation- and safety-related projects that would be in our national interest."The Trump administration secured waivers before withdrawing from the landmark nuclear deal in 2018.Joe Biden has attempted to re-join the JCPOA in theory.

As a resurrected agreement appeared to be within reach in February, his administration reinstated the waiver, citing the need to "enable conversations that might help to close a deal."The waiver applied to civilian activities at sites including the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Arak heavy water reactor and the Tehran research reactor.The extension of the waiver comes as Washington and Tehran move closer to an accord that would curtail Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The European Union, which has mediated the indirect discussions, circulated a "final text" to resurrect the broken agreement on Monday.In an effort to put pressure on Iran to resume cooperation with the nuclear deal, the administration has slapped successive rounds of sanctions targeting the sale of Iranian oil and petrochemical items in recent months.

Numerous companies were sanctioned by the State and Treasury departments last week for possible involvement in Iran's international petroleum trading.