The Biden administration is expected to weigh in this week on Iran’s latest offer to resume its compliance with the 2015 deal, but neither side is offering a definitive path to revive the agreement, which has been on life-support since former US President Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018, The Washington Post wrote.
US officials say they expect to respond to Iran’s comments on a European draft proposal as early as Wednesday, after which there is expected to be another exchange of technical details followed by a meeting of the joint commission that oversees the deal. The new developments, including stepped-up public messaging campaigns by both Tehran and Washington, suggest that an agreement could be near.
Despite the forward movement, numerous hurdles remain, the report added.
The US State Department spokesperson yesterday stressed that the US is still conducting consultations on European Union's presented proposal, adding that some divisions remain between the United States and Iran.
Al Jazeera on Monday quoted the European Union's foreign policy chief as writing that Iran's response to the European Union's proposal to revive the nuclear agreement was "reasonable".
Most countries involved in nuclear talks with Iran agree with a European Union proposal that aims to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.
In a recent press conference, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kan'ani stressed that significant progress has been made in nuclear talks.
"Relative progress was achieved, but this progress did not fully reach Iran's legal demands, and we had other expectations from the other side that we believed should be met," Kan'ani said.
"Serious consultations were held and are ongoing at the highest levels in Tehran," the Iranian diplomat emphasized, adding that the talks are in the stage of progress, but speaking of being close to an agreement at this round of talks depends on meeting Iran's rightful expectations from the other side, especially the American side.
In the latest round of the Vienna talks in early August after a five-month hiatus, the EU put forward a "final text" of the draft decision on the revival of the Iran nuclear deal known as the JCPOA. Iran sent its own response to the EU and now is awaiting Washington's response to its proposals to reach a final agreement.
MP/PR