US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Thursday that “time was running out” for Iran to return to commitment to the nuclear deal.
“The ball remains in their court, but not for long,” Blinken told reporters in Pittsburgh where he took part in US-EU trade talks.
“There is a limited runway on that, and the runway is getting shorter,” he said.
Blinken voiced US President Joe Biden’s “will” to return the United States to a 2015 accord.
Former president Donald Trump trashed the deal known formally as the JCPOA and reposed sweeping sanctions, prompting Iran to take a series of non-compliant steps.
“Simply getting back to the terms of the JCPOA at some point will not be sufficient to recapture the benefits of the agreement because of the progress Iran has made,” Blinken said.
Blinken said that the Biden administration has been engaged “in very good faith for many months” in indirect talks in Vienna with Iran on returning to compliance.
Multilateral talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the landmark deal were suspended in June, following the election of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Source: Agencies
