SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iran said on Monday the United States is responsible for the pause in talks between Tehran and world powers in Vienna aimed at reviving their 2015 nuclear deal.
“America is responsible for the halt of these talks … a deal is very much within reach,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly news conference, according to Reuters.
He further said the U.S. should make “political decision” for the deal’s revival.
He added that Iran would not wait “forever”.
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department said a small number of outstanding issues remain in the nuclear talks.
I also said the onus was on Tehran to make those decision.
Iran has said that there are still outstanding issues, including Washington removing a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) designation against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Reuters reported.
Also Tehran has been pushing for guarantees that any future U.S. president would not withdraw from the agreement, according to Reuters. The extent to which sanctions would be rolled back is another unresolved issue.
A Russian demand forced world powers to pause nuclear negotiations in early March, But Moscow later said it had written guarantees that its trade with Iran would not be affected by Ukraine-related sanctions, suggesting Moscow could allow a revival of the tattered pact to go forward.
