Tehran ‘rejects’ restart of nuclear deal
WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Iran had rejected the chance to return to a nuclear deal with the US months ago, and he reiterated that a new agreement was no longer a Biden administration priority.
Mr Blinken said the US had the consent of Russia, China and the other original signatories to the 2015 agreement, which President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.
Iran baulked, Mr Blinken added. “The Iranians killed the opportunity to come back to that agreement swiftly many months ago,” Mr Blinken said at a press conference in Washington alongside UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Tuesday. “There was an opportunity on the table that they rejected, an opportunity that was approved by all who were involved.”
The US has all but given up on new talks, especially in the wake of Iran’s crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted after the death of a young woman in police custody last year.
Last week, Iran said it had executed a dual Iranian-British citizen, Alireza Akbari. That drew swift condemnation along with sanctions from the UK.
A return to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in which Iran agreed to limits on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, “has not been on the agenda as a practical matter for many months now,” Mr Blinken said, as the US government focuses instead on the Iranian government’s violent response to the protests and its supplying of weapons to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
“These abuses will not go without consequence,” said Mr Blinken, who held the joint press conference with Mr Cleverly.