“Regarding the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal, we are continuing to work to see if we can return to mutual compliance with Iran on the deal,” a senior US diplomat said at a press conference in Estonia, using the acronym for the deal’s official name: Joint comprehensive action plan.
“Russia continues to engage in these efforts and has its own interests in making sure that Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon,” he said.
Blinken’s remarks on Tuesday, as well as those on Sunday, which described sanctions against Ukraine and discussions of the Iran nuclear deal as “completely different” and “in no way related to each other,” were intended to downplay any potential threat. which Moscow’s demands may have for Iran. negotiations that have reached a critical final stage.
US and European officials have been warning for months that the time to save the 2015 deal, which the US abandoned in 2018 under the Trump administration, is rapidly shrinking as Iran develops its nuclear program.
“In the next few days, it is time for political decisions to be made to end #ViennaTalks. The rest is noise,” European Union diplomat Enrique Mora tweeted on Monday.
Mora and Russian negotiator Mikhail Ulyanov met on Tuesday and “exchanged views on current events and future plans,” Ulyanov tweeted.
On the same day, the E3 countries – the UK, France and Germany – called on the parties to “take the necessary decisions to close this deal now” and called on Russia “not to add extraneous conditions to its conclusion.”
“The pace of advancement of the means of Iran’s nuclear program (JCPOA) cannot remain on the negotiating table indefinitely. The window of opportunity is closing,” UK Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Corine Kitsell said on behalf of E3.
On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Tehran “will not allow external factors” to influence their national interests in the talks. On that day, he spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the latter said that “the resuscitation of the JCPOA should provide all its participants with equal rights regarding the unhindered development of cooperation in all areas,” the Russian embassy in Iran reported.
In an appearance for CBS Sunday, Blinken said he thought they were “close” to repurchasing the nuclear deal, but “but there are a couple of very difficult issues remaining, and nothing is done until everything is done.”
“So if we can’t resolve a couple of outstanding issues, we’re not going back to the deal,” Blinken said, without going into detail on those “unresolved issues.”
On Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged that “the oil discussion is part” of broader talks to get back to the deal as the US seeks alternative sources of oil for Russia, “but the most important reason is to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons.”