US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was “unlikely” that the US and Iran would reach a new nuclear deal anytime soon, adding to Western officials’ downbeat assessment over the prospects for reviving an accord that former US president Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.
“What we’ve seen over the last week or so in Iran’s response to the proposal put forward by the European Union is clearly a step backward and makes prospects for an agreement in the near-term, I would say, unlikely,” Blinken told reporters at a news conference in Mexico City on Monday.
“Iran seems either unwilling or unable to do what’s necessary to reach an agreement and they continue to try to introduce extraneous issues to the negotiations that make an agreement less likely,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
The top US diplomat’s comments added to growing pessimism that the sides would be able to bridge their differences over the EU proposal, which was introduced in an effort to break a deadlock after months of indirect talks between the US and Iran proved fruitless.
A inquiry by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) into Iran’s past nuclear activities has taken center stage in the talks to resuscitate the 2015 agreement, where success could unleash a surge in Iranian oil exports.
The IAEA’s 35-member board of governors convened on Monday in Vienna to discuss the standoff and heard a gloomy assessment from IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
“The information gap is bigger and bigger,” Grossi said, adding that he still expects Iran to cooperate with his inquiry.
Iran is demanding the IAEA investigation into suggestions of nuclear activities at undeclared sites be terminated before it starts to dismantle a program now enriching uranium just below the levels needed for weapons.
The US and other world powers have offered sanctions relief if Tehran curtails nuclear-fuel production, but they insist that it is up to the IAEA to declare an end to the investigation.
The governments of France, Germany and the UK issued a joint statement on Saturday addressing the latest demands from Iran.
“In light of Iran’s failure to conclude the agreement on the table, we will consult with our international partners on how best to deal with Iran’s continued nuclear escalation,” the governments said.
“There is really no reason now for Iran not to agree to these proposals, but we must recognize that this is not the case and so it certainly won’t happen anytime soon, even though it appeared that would happen for a while,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday.
As European hopes dim for an immediate return to the agreement, Iran’s leadership is focusing on the region. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to meet his Chinese and Russian counterparts at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization that convenes tomorrow in Uzbekistan.
Even if Iran and world powers manage to clear the final obstacles toward reviving the accord, Grossi warned that the amount of time his inspectors would need to verify compliance has grown.
“The reality is that it is going to be extremely difficult, and we will have to work very hard and Iran will have to be very transparent,” he said. “There’s a lot of homework to do.”
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid welcomed the deadlock after meeting leaders of the German government in Berlin on Monday.
“Returning to the nuclear agreement, under the current conditions, would be a critical mistake,” he said, adding that doing so would set off an arms race in the Middle East.
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