US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Wednesday June 28, that there are currently no plans for a new nuclear agreement with Iran, following discreet diplomatic efforts between the two opposing parties.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that no new nuclear agreement was on the table with Iran, after quiet new diplomacy between the adversaries.
President Joe Biden took office with hopes of returning to a 2015 nuclear accord with Iran scrapped by his predecessor Donald Trump. But EU-mediated talks collapsed, and mass protests in Iran made Washington increasingly hesitant to strike a deal with the clerical state.
Diplomats, however, say indirect talks have quietly resumed in recent months with Oman as an intermediary, with the focus largely on the status of US prisoners in Iran.
The talks on restoring the 2015 nuclear accord broke down over disputes on the extent of relief from sweeping US sanctions imposed by Trump and over when Iran would return to compliance by pulling back from countermeasures taken in response to the US withdrawal from the deal.
Blinken said the Biden administration had made a “good-faith effort” with European powers as well as rivals China and Russia to return, and that for a time “that looked possible.”
Elsewhere in the region, Blinken has served as a go-between for Israel and Saudi Arabia, which both have uneasy relations with the United States, as they explore establishing relations.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
