Time left for nuclear deal with Iran runs out, US warns
ERBIL, KRG, Iraq (North Press) – The time left to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran is running out and raising the risk of an “escalating crisis,” the US Special Envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, told CNN yesterday.
After US President Joe Biden replaced Trump, indirect talks to revive the accord between the US and Iran resumed. They stopped before Iran’s June presidential election, then resumed on November 29.
It is unclear when talks might resume, but, Malley said, “we hope relatively soon.”
“It seems very clear (Iran) is trying to build leverage by expanding their nuclear program and hoping to use that leverage to get a better deal,” Malley added.
“It is getting very, very, very short. Being able to recover the full benefits of the JCPOA, by returning to compliance with it, is getting increasingly problematic by the advances that Iran makes every single day in its nuclear program,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday.
Meanwhile, western countries accuse Iran of conducting advances its nuclear capabilities curbing talks, while the US has not set a deadline for diplomatic efforts to restore the agreement.
“At some point in the not-so-distant future, we will have to conclude that the JCPOA is no more, and we’d have to negotiate a wholly new different deal, and of course we’d go through a period of escalating crisis,” Malley noted.
Two days ago, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh said, “is a party to the International Treaty on the Limitation of Nuclear Weapons, and everything it has done has been done within its framework and within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s regulations.”
“The level, quantity and quality of enrichment correspond to the needs of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program….All these measures have been taken by the IAEA and will remain so in the future,” he added.
On the US approach to the talks and its intention, the Iranian spokesman said Washington has offered “no tangible proposal or text to other members of the P4+1, placing a big question mark on America’s intention.”
Iran, for its part, did not rule out the possibility that the next round would be the last one depending on the western parties showing the will to reach an agreement with Iran.
Yesterday, Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, held a working meeting with US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan with the participation of Israel’s ambassador to the US, Mike Herzog, and the American ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, and senior officials from the American National Council and representatives of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the meeting the Israeli President expressed his concerns about Iran’s progress towards acquiring nuclear weapons under the umbrella of the Vienna negotiations.
Reports indicate that Israel expecting the worst in case Vienna negotiations failed to curb Iran.