US breaks Vienna Talks; says Iran 'not serious' about compliance with JCPOA deal

In a key development, the United States has pulled out of Vienna talks, which were aimed at returning Iran to comply with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, saying that Tehran is "not serious" about the negotiations. While speaking at a press conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said that in the last couple of days the US has observed that "Iran right now does not seem to be serious about what is necessary" with respect to the nuclear deal, Sputnik reported.

However, the top US diplomat did not explain why he believed Iran was not serious, adding that Washington will not let Tehran drag the process while letting them advance the program. He also informed that the US will be "consulting very closely and carefully with all of our partners in the process itself... And we will see if Iran has any interest in engaging seriously," Sputnik reported, quoting the top diplomat as saying at the conference.

Meanwhile, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Friday in a separate statement asserted that "the first six rounds of negotiations made progress, finding creative compromise solutions to many of the hardest issues that were difficult for all sides." Price further clarified that despite the progress, "Iran's approach this week was not, unfortunately, to try to resolve the remaining issues."

"Lack of optimism" is because of the US: advisor to Iran's Vienna delegation

Taking a jibe at Blinken, advisor to Iran's Vienna delegation, Mohammad Marandi on Thursday told CNN that the "lack of optimism" around the JCPOA talks is because of the actions of the United States. "The current administration in Washington, the president of the United States, was critical of Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign, yet when he came to power, he continued with that policy and continues with that policy today,” Marandi said. Emphasising that Iran has continued to stay at the table for continued negotiation, Marandi said the US is in clear violation of the agreement and the UN Security Council (UNSC), whereas Iranians were fully implementing the nuclear deal, even after the US left.

Assumably, Marandi was referring to the unilateral decision of ex-US president Donald Trump of pulling out of the 2015 nuclear deal, claiming that Iran was secretly violating provisions and later imposing sanctions, although the partners in the deal were not convinced.

It is pertinent to mention that the coming Monday meeting would have been the 7th round of talks over the JCPOA nuclear deal.

What is the JCPOA nuclear deal?

The JCPOA deal on the Iranian nuclear program reached Vienna on 14 July 2015, between Iran and the P5+1 together with the European Union. The P5+1 refers to the UN Security Council's five permanent members -- China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; as well as Germany. The JCPOA is an agreement that enables world powers to have core access to Iranian nuclear establishments for inspection purposes in exchange for sanctions relief. However, the talks on restoring the deal and bringing Iran back into compliance have been stalled since June 2021 after Tel Aviv has incrementally violated the terms of the agreement and widened cap on its stockpile of uranium and increased activities above 3.67% allowed under JCPOA, House of Commons, UK had said in a statement.

(Image: AP/@Bagheri_Kani_Twitter)