<p class="title">President Hassan Rouhani Tuesday told the United States to "take the first step" by lifting all sanctions against Iran, a day after US President Donald Trump said he was open to meeting.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The step is to retreat from sanctions. You must retreat from all illegal, unjust and wrong sanctions against the nation of Iran," Rouhani said in a speech aired live on state television.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said "the key for positive change is in the hands of Washington," because Iran had already ruled out ever doing what worries the US the most -- building an atomic bomb.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If honestly this is your only concern, this concern has already been removed" through a fatwa issued by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Khamenei is said to have issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons in 2003 and has reiterated it several times since.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"So take the first step. Without this step, this lock will not be unlocked," Rouhani said at a Tehran event marking the start of construction at a housing project.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The US unilaterally pulled out of a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal in May last year and subsequently reimposed biting sanctions.</p>
<p class="title">President Hassan Rouhani Tuesday told the United States to "take the first step" by lifting all sanctions against Iran, a day after US President Donald Trump said he was open to meeting.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The step is to retreat from sanctions. You must retreat from all illegal, unjust and wrong sanctions against the nation of Iran," Rouhani said in a speech aired live on state television.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said "the key for positive change is in the hands of Washington," because Iran had already ruled out ever doing what worries the US the most -- building an atomic bomb.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If honestly this is your only concern, this concern has already been removed" through a fatwa issued by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Khamenei is said to have issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons in 2003 and has reiterated it several times since.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"So take the first step. Without this step, this lock will not be unlocked," Rouhani said at a Tehran event marking the start of construction at a housing project.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The US unilaterally pulled out of a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal in May last year and subsequently reimposed biting sanctions.</p>