The talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal that have resumed in Vienna show some progress but it is far too slow, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
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The State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a press briefing that Iran has at best been dragging its feet in the talks while accelerating its nuclear escalation. We have been very clear that that won't work. If Iran continues to that pace, it will be too late to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between Iran and world powers in 2015, he said.
Diplomats reconvened Monday in the Austrian capital for an eighth round of negotiations meant to limit the Persian Gulf country's nuclear activities in exchange for U.S. sanctions.
The deep divisions that plague the European Union-brokered talks have forced diplomats to contemplate outcomes that are not fully reviving the landmark 2015 accord, according to officials with knowledge of the discussions.
The accord could be neither quite alive or dead at the beginning of the new round of talks in Vienna.
While there is no formal discussion of an interim deal, leaving the accord in a state of limbo would require an implicit understanding among all sides not to escalate further. Iran took a big step in that direction when it said on December 25 that it wouldn't exceed 60% enrichment of uranium.
According to the semi-official ISNA news agency, the most important issue for us is to reach a point where Iran can sell its oil without any restrictions and receive its money in foreign currency in its own bank accounts. We should be able to fully reap the economic benefits of the nuclear deal. European and U.S. diplomats are increasingly skeptical that they can offer the kind of sanctions that Iran demands. The Islamic Republic has increased its nuclear activities in the wake of the U.S. decision to leave the accord almost four years ago.
That resulted in a dwindling time horizon for diplomacy to prevent Iran from marshaling resources necessary to build a nuclear weapon.
After the last diplomatic round adjourned Dec. 17, a European official asked not to be identified in exchange for discussing the talks, he said that the window of opportunity had shrunk to a matter of weeks.
Some of Iran's primary advocates in the talks, including China and Russia, suggest that the newest round might have just a month to succeed.
Iran has no intention of building warheads, but worries that it might covertly try to do so drove the international diplomatic effort that culminated in the 2015 accord. The energy markets have been watching the talks for signs that Iran is the holder of the world's No. Two Iranian envoys who were familiar with the talks, who asked not to be identified in line with diplomatic rules, rejected European and U.S. ultimatums limiting the time for diplomacy. One official stated that Iran is ready to negotiate as long as necessary to reach a deal, while the other suggested that the country is looking at fall-back options in case of the Vienna talks collapse.
Former U.S. intelligence officials wrote this month that the Biden administration should threaten to attack Iran's nuclear infrastructure unless it acquiesces. Israel has suggested that it could bomb Iranian positions to prevent the country from making nuclear weapons.
Tehran s top nuclear official, Mohammad Eslami, signaled in a Dec. 25 interview with Russia s RIA Novosti that his engineers won't exceed levels of uranium enrichment required to make a nuclear weapon. That could send a message to diplomats trying to extend the possibility for a peaceful resolution.
Tariq Rauf, the former non-proliferation policy chief at the International Atomic Energy Agency, said there needs to be an understanding that Iran won't increase their enrichment even further. The Gulf states don't want an attack on Iran because they know they will suffer as well. A military conflict in Iran wouldn't be cost-free for the region. The Customers of Covid have already caught on to the Excuses, and none stop with the Excuses.
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