The United States on Thursday (December 2) seemed to play down the possibility of resuming the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers, even though Tehran proposed a draft proposal after the resumption of talks in Vienna.
“We will know very, very quickly, I wonder if Iran is serious in the next one or two days,” US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken told reporters on the sidelines of a security organization meeting in Stockholm. Organization for European Cooperation (OSCE).
“In the near future, the next day or so, we will be able to judge whether Iran really intends to participate in good faith now.”
But he warned: “I have to tell you that recent actions, recent remarks, don’t give us too many reasons for optimism.”
In a phone call with Brinken on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called for an “immediate cessation” of the talks, which resumed on Monday.
Brinken declined to comment directly on the request.
“But even if it is too late, it is not too late for Iran to change direction,” Brinken said.
“What Iran cannot do is to maintain the status quo of building a nuclear program while delaying negotiations. That… will not happen.”
“This is not just our view. This is the view of our European partners. I have to say that I also had a good conversation with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“I think Russia agrees with our basic views on this.”
The 2015 agreement-known as the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan or JCPOA-required Iran to lift economic sanctions in exchange for strict restrictions on its nuclear activities.
The goal is to make it almost impossible for Iran to build an atomic bomb while allowing it to carry out a civilian nuclear program.
But the deal began to break down in 2018, when US President Donald Trump withdrew and began to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
In turn, Iran, which denies that it wants to acquire a nuclear arsenal, has gradually abandoned its commitments since 2019.
‘Until the west’
US President Joe Biden has said that as long as Iran also restores the original terms, he is willing to return to the agreement.
Iran said on Thursday that it had submitted two draft proposals to European powers aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear agreement.
Chief negotiator Ali Bagheri told Iran’s national television that these proposals were submitted on Wednesday, the third day of the Vienna talks-involving two major issues facing the agreement: the lifting of sanctions and Iran’s nuclear commitments.
“The first document summarizes the views of the Islamic Republic on lifting the sanctions, while the second document is about Iran’s nuclear operations,” Bagheri told IRIB TV.
“Now the other party must review these documents and be ready to negotiate with Iran based on these documents,” Bagheri said.
Bagheri echoed the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, saying that Iran is resuming negotiations in Vienna, but that it depends on the West.
“We have told the other party that we are going to have a meeting in Vienna… If they are going to have a meeting, we agree to the meeting,” he told reporters in Vienna.
He said that the timetable for resuming negotiations will be worked out on Thursday.
