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| Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani arrives at Palais Coburg where closed-door nuclear talks with Iran take place in Vienna |
The White House publicly pressured Iran on Wednesday to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement quickly, saying that it will be impossible to return to the accord if a deal is not struck within weeks.
โOur talks with Iran have reached an urgent point,โ White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, noting that the U.S. special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has returned to Vienna for indirect talks with Iran on both sides resuming compliance with the pact.
โA deal that addresses the core concerns of all sides is in sight, but if itโs not reached in the coming weeks Iranโs ongoing nuclear advances will make it impossible for us to return to the JCPOA,โ she said, referring to the deal by the acronym for its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Psakiโs comments echoed those of a senior U.S. State Department official who told reporters on Jan. 31 that โwe only have a handful of weeks leftโ to revive the agreement.
Under the accord, Iran restricted its nuclear program to make it harder to obtain the fissile material to make a bomb, an ambition that Tehran denies. In return, the United States and other nations eased sanctions that have crippled Iranโs economy.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, arguing that it had failed to stop Iranโs support for regional proxies and gave Tehran too much sanctions relief for the nuclear restrictions. He then restored U.S. sanctions, prompting Iran to begin violating the dealโs nuclear limits a year later.
