TEHERAN (AFP) - Iran is in no hurry to see the United States return to a 2015 nuclear deal with major powers after President-elect Joe Biden takes office this month, its supreme leader said on Friday (Jan 8).

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said it was not a question of "whether the United States returns or not", it was a matter of it lifting its unilateral sanctions.

"We are in no rush and we are not insisting on their return. Our demand... is the lifting of sanctions" which outgoing US President Donald Trump reimposed after quitting the deal in 2018.