THE US Secretary of State Antony Blinken maintained that no new nuclear agreement was on the table with Iran despite a flurry of activity between the Islamic Republic and the Western Nations taking place in recent weeks.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Blinken pointed out that efforts were made to revive the Iran nuclear agreement, also known as the JCPOA, by working closely with Iran and European partners, including Russia and China.
However, he revealed no new nuclear agreement will likely happen even as both sides are willing to continue exploring diplomatic paths.
Referring to the future relationship with the Islamic Republic, the US official urged Iran not to take actions “that further escalate the tensions” with the United States and in the Middle East.
Oman and Qatar have been acting as intermediaries, with some meetings taking place in Muscat and Doha recently.
The Biden administration made efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers ever since former President Donald Trump withdraw from the deal in 2018. Trump described the deal as fatally flawed and one-sided and reimposed heavy sanctions against Iran.
The talks on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal collapsed due to disputes on the extent of relief from sweeping U.S. sanctions imposed by Trump and over when Iran would return to comply with the agreements stated under the abandoned agreement.
