The plan laid out on Tuesday by Senators Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is separate from the Donald Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran, The Hill reported.

Iran says it is still committed to its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, despite the unilateral withdrawal of the US and the failure of EU signatories to uphold their obligations under the deal.

Speaking in a meeting with the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in Tehran in February, President Hassan Rouhani noted, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is still ready to interact and cooperate with the European Union to settle issues”.

“Whenever the other side lives up to its commitments completely, Iran is ready to return to its commitments,” he added.

The nuclear deal between Tehran and a group of world powers has been crumbling since Trump withdrew from it in 2018, and Washington has since stepped up sanctions and an economic terrorism campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran.

Since May 2019, Iran has progressively scaled back commitments in compliance with articles 26 and 36 of the agreement in response to the US sanctions and Europe’s inability to circumvent them.

On regional issues, Tehran says regional security must be ensured by regional countries alone.

Iran has always stressed that the country’s missile capabilities and its defensive means and power are not up for negotiation and bargaining.

“Sen. Graham and I have been talking with our European partners about a multilateral strategy to get Iran back to the table and advance three clear goals,” Menendez, who is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in remarks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington D.C.

The Democratic senator, Graham made his proposal in front of more than 18,000 pro-Israel members of an organization that firmly opposed the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Menendez also on Tuesday criticized the Trump administration’s sanctions campaign as lacking strategy.

“Maximum sanctions pressure on its own is a tactic, not a strategy,” the senator said. “We need a strategy, one that uses diplomacy to ensure Iran has no pathway to nuclear weapons.”

Tehran has insisted that its nuclear activities have only peaceful purposes.

Menendez’s proposal includes bringing in Persian Gulf countries to partner with Iran on a regional nuclear energy program for “explicitly peaceful purposes,” with the US and international community providing oversight.

“A nuclear fuel bank, administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, with US veto power could prevent misuse and end any pathway to a nuclear weapon,” he said.

Menendez and Graham first announced their efforts to partner with European allies last month after meetings at the Munich Security Conference and in an interview with The Washington Post.