Friday, October 8, 2021

US: We want nuclear talks with Iran to restart 'soon'

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday the US wants nuclear talks with Iran in Vienna to restart “soon,” just days after Iran's foreign minister said the country would “soon” return to table.

"We hope their definition of soon matches our definition of soon," Price said in a press briefing, according to The Hill. “We would like negotiations to resume in Vienna as soon as possible."

Iran has gradually scaled back its compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with world powers in response to former US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May of 2018.

The previous Iranian government, headed by former President Hassan Rouhani, had been holding indirect talks with the Biden administration on a return to the agreement.

The negotiations were adjourned on June 20, two days after Ebrahim Raisi won Iran's presidential election, and no date has been set for a resumption of dialogue.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned last week that time was running out for a return to the talks and the ball was in Iran's court.

On Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said he expects negotiations on the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to restart in Vienna soon.

"We are now finalizing consultations on this matter and will soon restore our negotiations in Vienna," he told reporters in Moscow after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.