A spokesperson for the US State Department said on Wednesday (December 8) that the United States will quickly determine whether Tehran has acted in good faith in the negotiations to resume the Iran nuclear agreement, that is, the negotiations will be the day before the resumption of negotiations.
Spokesperson Ned Price said: “We should know in a very short time whether the Iranians intend to … sincerely negotiate,” spokesman Ned Price warned, “The runway of negotiations has become very Very short.”
The European Union, which is coordinating indirect talks between Washington and Tehran, confirmed that they will resume talks in Vienna on Thursday after a few days off.
US special envoy Rob Marley “will plan to join the talks over the weekend,” Price said.
The talks started in April, but were suspended in June due to the election of Iran’s new president and did not resume until last week.
After a week of negotiations, both Americans and Europeans accused the Iranians of retreating since the spring.
Washington warned that Tehran would not be allowed to block negotiations for longer while developing its nuclear program, but it has not yet issued an ultimatum.
The next few days seem to see a diplomatic push of the last chance, although the possibility of any breakthrough in the negotiations seems to be diminishing.
“I think that from the restart of this round to the time when the United States and our allies and partners can judge whether the Iranians have returned… and are willing to participate in substantive negotiations, you will not see a long lag,” Price told reporters.
“It’s not always in our interest to seek to return to the JCPOA,” he said, using the official name of the landmark 2015 agreement, which was designed to curb Iran’s nuclear program to ensure that it cannot develop atomic weapons in exchange for Sanctions on Tehran are reduced.
The Joint Comprehensive Action Plan was initially agreed by Iran with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
But it began to disintegrate in 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew and re-imposed sanctions, prompting Iran to start exceeding the limits of its nuclear program the following year.
Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful.
