Efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are at a “critical phase” and Tehran’s reasons for avoiding talks are wearing thin, a U.S. official told Reuters.
Specifically, US envoy Robert Malley has warned that efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal are entering a “critical phase”, saying that there is “shared impatience” between Washington and its allies over Tehran’s advancing nuclear programme.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Malley reiterated the US administration’s position that it prefers diplomacy to deal with Iran’s nuclear programme but said the United States has “other options“.
“We’re in a critical phase of the efforts to see whether we can revive the JCPOA,” Malley said, referring to the deal formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “We’ve had a hiatus of many months and the official reasons given by Iran for why we’re in this hiatus are wearing very thin.”
To remind, six rounds of talks in Vienna earlier this year have failed to restore the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting international sanctions against its economy.
The Vienna talks were suspended in June shortly after the election of Iran’s conservative President Ebrahim Raisi.
Overall, Iran has now said it is willing to return to the negotiations, but it wants the talks to result in lifting sanctions against its economy. US officials say Washington is ready to rejoin the talk as soon as Tehran agrees to another round of negotiations.
