Outgoing Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s July 12 report to parliament offers a clear path for completing negotiations over restoring the 2015 nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). All the incoming administration of President-elect Ebrahim Raisi needs to do is follow Zarif’s advice to adjust maximalist positions.

This is not so easy, of course; the maximalist demands that all sanctions imposed by former US President Donald Trump must be lifted, and that this must be verified before Iran resumes compliance, came from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Had he been willing to compromise, talks could have wrapped up anytime this spring.

In his 264-page report, Zarif pointed out the many benefits Iran stands to gain. His take is self-serving and possibly exaggerated to the point of inaccuracy in parts, yet the gist appears to be correct. If Iran returns to the contours of the JCPOA, so will the United States, by lifting all sanctions that are contrary to the accord’s provisions. The Biden administration had already stated this principle, but has not publicly listed the steps it is willing to take. Zarif’s report does so in detail, including, for example, designations blacklisting Khamenei, his office and Raisi as well as a long list of industrial sectors that would see fetters removed.

The list of measures prospectively to be lifted also includes Trump’s controversial 2019 designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO). Removing the FTO label is a red line for Iran, which knows that no other government entity in the world has been so tagged. The FTO process was designed to apply to nonstate actors. As a practical matter, however, removing this label would have little material impact. Because several other sanctions measures would remain in place against the IRGC, no foreign firm or bank will want to do business with any Iranian entity associated with the IRGC.