WASHINGTON: Washington denied rumours that it was holding up a possible deal to bring back the Iran nuclear deal after a “final” draught was made public, but it did say that questions still needed to be answered.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the State Department, said, “It is just not true that we have in any way slowed down these talks.”
After the EU sent the proposed text to both Tehran and Washington at the end of July, Iran “responded with several comments,” Price said, without being more specific.
Iran says it is hopeful after the EU proposed a deal on its nuclear programme.
The US and Saudi Arabia both agree that Iran should not get nuclear weapons.
Iran’s nuclear talks have “not yet” led to the progress that was hoped for: EU coordinator
“That’s why it’s taken us a little more time to look over those comments and figure out how we want to respond,” he said.
“We are taking those comments very seriously.”
Monday morning, Josep Borrell, who is in charge of EU foreign policy and is leading the effort to get the US and Iran to agree on something, said that the US was now slowing down the process.
“There was a response from Iran that I thought was reasonable enough to send to the U.S.,” he said.
“The US hasn’t given a formal answer yet. But we are waiting for their answer, and I hope that answer will let us finish the negotiations. I hope so, but I can’t promise it.”
Price said that Washington was “encouraged” by the fact that Tehran no longer seemed to want the United States to stop calling the Islamic Republican Guard Corps an international terrorist group in order for a deal to be finalised.
One of the things that seemed to be stopping progress on a final agreement that had been sketched out in March was this.
Price said, “There are still some problems that need to be fixed and some gaps that need to be filled if we are to get there.”
He said, “We are working as rapidly as we can to come up with a good reply to the Iranian paper.”
In 2015, Iran and the world’s most powerful countries made a deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear programme. The goal was to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
But in 2018, US President Donald Trump, who was a big critic of the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), pulled out on his own and put more sanctions on Iran.
Since then, Iran has stepped up its work on nuclear research and development, bringing it closer to being able to make a nuclear bomb.
Read Also: Germany and Canada have signed a hydrogen deal.
Since he took office in January 2021, US President Joe Biden has been trying to get the JCPOA back on track in exchange for easing sanctions on Iran.
